UK 2024: Formula 1 Exhibition

I wonder how much Beijing has changed since I was there. There had been rapid development which made parts unrecognisable from the scenes in '80 Days Around the World' what would have been filmed around 20 years before I visited. Coming up on 15 years since then, how different is it now?

Tartu Cathedral is one of the biggest churches in Estonia and the only medieval church with two spires in the country. Its construction began in the thirteenth century and continued until the early sixteenth century. The final parts completed were its spires. The church was destroyed during the Livonian War and has not functioned as a place of worship since. Today, the University of Tartu Museum operates in the Cathedral.

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 Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is a world wonder that truly lives up to its reputation. A set of memories rather than a great set of photos. I'd not slept in around 72 hours, was struggling a bit physically and once I set foot on the wall was suddenly hit by the realisation that I no longer had a job, was actually at a place I'd dreamt of since I was a kid and at the start of a grand adventure. What a place to start it.

I went to Valencia in for the conclusion of the 2017 MotoGP World Champions, but got a little time the day after the race before my evening flight home. It's a city I'm going to have to return to in order to see more of the city itself. The Museu de les Ciències is where I spent most of my time. As well as being an outstanding museum, it is a photographers paradise. Full of leading lines and abstract angles.

A Soviet era Nuclear Missile base with four silos buried deep in the woods in a quiet part of Lithuania. Now converted into a museum. Frankly this place left me with a haunted feeling, knowing within half an hour of a call destruction could be sent to one of many targets. Seeing these marked upon maps still on display somehow made it even more real.

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

Some days it just all goes wrong. This was one of them. I'd been working in Chennai on a secondment and was coming to the end of my time there, where I'd have a couple of weeks to myself. This was the first place I visited, and promptly began feeling sick about 10 minutes after arriving. It was a scorching day, and I'd arrived with the sun at it's highest. I dragged myself around the complex for a single lap stopping as many times to throw up as I did to take a photo, before collapsing into the rear seat of the hotel car for the long ride home.