Netherlands 2017: Christmas in Amsterdam

This was a fun one. I've always had a fascination with birds of prey and when visiting an old schoolfriend in England, was delighted to find there was a sanctuary nearby where you could arrange to meet some of their residents face-to-face. A decade later, buzzards and kestrels are now a common sight on the coasts here in Guernsey as they hunt and breed here.

A full days shooting in the picturesque town of Saint-Malo and the surround area along the beach. A nice walk, and a nice bike ride on a crisp and clear winters day.

Another of those places that has to be seen with your own eyes. Every nook and cranny is filled with detail that even a gallery of a thousand photographs could not hope to capture. So many moments where you turn a corner and say 'hang on that's a...'

I had no idea what to expect in Riga, and really had no pre-conceived notions on what I'd find but if asked back then I probably wouldn't have said a gloriously pretty city with vividly coloured buildings and art deco facades intertwined with redbrick medieval churches.

Sometimes you make a mistake, and sometimes that mistake is utterly avoidable. The day before this trip I got the then new iPhone 7 took a couple of shots in nice light and thought, 'this is good'. I'd taken some online comments to heart. Something along the lines of 'only 'cause you've got an expensive camera'. Rather than dismissing it, I thought I'd challenge myself and set off to Amsterdam with only the iPhone. As it turned out, I fell in love with Amsterdam that weekend and wished I'd had my X-T1 with me. The iPhone looked alright in good daylight and on a phone screen, but quality simply fell apart as soon as the light dimmed and seen on a laptop or larger. In December in a city filled with beautiful illuminations the good light fell away quickly and what was left on the sensor did not do the city justice. The next time I went, I did not make the same mistake twice.

The Formula 1 Exhibition at the eXcel Area in London as seen in December 2024.

We only had a brief stop in this beautiful medieval town, 24KM from Geneva, but it certainly left an impression.

A night in luxury aboard the RMS Queen Mary. A once proud jewel of the oceans reduced to a floating hotel. She may have been grubby and crumbling in places, but the charm and beauty remained.