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Travel Photography

You don't necessarily have to travel to wild places to take travel photographs. This was taken 5 minutes from my house. I asked whether this stonemason would mind if I took some photographs. I may have also bribed him with some biscuits and tea. I photographed him as breaks up the stone to wedge in between the main slabs that make up the dry stone wall.

These conical boats are traditional vietnamese boats and require a certain amount of skill not to go around in circles. using a slow shutter speed I follwed these two vietnamese ladies as they paddled back to their house boats. Luck was on my side, as just as I photographed them they entered the dark gap in between to boats, making them and their reflections stand out from the vibrant blue reflections from the house boats on either side

A friendly fisherman gives me a typical Balinese smile

The monsoon rain was relentless. It had been like this for days. Landscape Photography was off the cards so I went in search of local portraits inland. I took shelter under the small, corrugated roof of a café on the roadside, wearing my new purchase; a very fetching, beige, hooded mac, which as fashionable as it looked, provided little protection for my camera. I kept the camera under my mac until I saw a potential image. All the settings were dialed into the camera so all I had to do was wait. These boys on their bikes suddenly came into shot – I quickly raised my camera and panned the camera to match their speed. A slow shutter-speed rendered the background into a blur and the rain droplets as streaks of water with the added bonus of the bikes reflections in the wet tarmac.

I noticed an old man setting up a small stool and fold-away table across the street in front of an un-opened shop front. He began un-ravelling some of the red paper inscribed with Chinese poetry, typically to be hung on doorways throughout the Chinese New Year celebrations for good luck.

Brushes and inks were laid out systematically and previous inscriptions were hung up on the absent shopkeepers real estate (you snooze you lose).

I approached him and asked if he would prepare some calligraphy for me and asked his permission to photograph him. He obliged.

As he carefully dipped his brush into the pot of black ink and then dabbed it to get rid of the excess, I took a series of photographs hoping to capture a bit of his personality as well.

This is how I prefer to take my travel portraits - It is mutually beneficial, not just to photograph him unawares. We both feel more comfortable and I always take better pictures this way.

Each time he had finished an inscription he pulled his brush back and took a brief moment to admire his creation

A garlic seller in a market in France. I know, how cliche!

Bob, who sadly died last year, was fishing in my local lake. He told me these photographs were probably the last photographs anyone was going to take of him. This one featured at his funeral.

A crazy fisherman poses for me with his catch of the day.

This is one of the iconic shots of London. I noticed, while scouting locations for my London Photography Workshops, this homeless man sitting right in the middle. I asked whether he wouldn't mind if I took a photograph behind him and he obliged. A 10 second exposure blurred the passers-by while him and his dog remain motionless.

A photo of the stilt fishermen in Sri Lanka

A photo of the stilt fishermen in Sri Lanka

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