Spain 2019: Cuenca and Ciudad Encantada

A true learning experience. My first time shooting RAW and my first time plucking up the courage to shoot street. This is a selection of images that convey the overwhelming assault on the senses I felt entering the Marrakech Souks

Vanalinn, or Tallinn Old Town is a place with bags of character, exemplified by the near ubiquitous red tiles and bricks that give the buildings a unique 'glow'. I tend to gravitate to Black & White, but this city demanded to be shot in colour.

It's the second time I've been here and the second time I've come away feeling a bit uninspired. I feel it shows in my photography. Looking online at other peoples images, the best take a very low angle with an ultrawide in courtyards and either a closed venue or a hell of a lot of digital erasure of other visitors. Of both my times in Morocco, this is the place I've struggled to capture.

I had big plans for film photography in Morocco. I took 5 weird and wonderful films with me. I got to shoot 1 and a half. It turns out that cameras are not happy if you drop them in streams. Lomo Purple is a odd film at the best of times. It is even odder when soaked in river water and coated in silt and debris!

Another of those places where it felt surreal to walk the pathways of a place I'd seen in everything from Asterix graphic novels as a kid, to movies via many history books. Every footstep, a connection to the past. I visited on a bright but changeable February morning and the queues were still deep. I cannot imagine how busy it must be at the height of summer.

The last stop on my trip to South Africa, quite literally on the way to the airport. A lovely walk around a majestic landscape. As ever a little wasted on me as my knowledge of plants is very limited. I can appreciate the beauty, but know that I'll have the same deep appreciated as someone who knows the challenges of cultivating a place like this.

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.

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.

A late afternoon walk around the Estonian city of Tartu.