Like most people I take the majority of my pictures while on holiday. But that’s not the only time. Here you’ll find some odds and ends, places I’ve been where I was only there for a short time or where there are only a few reasonable ones!
The first batch are from my month-long stint at my companies Malta office (actually at the tail-end of 2002). There would have been more pictures, but it rained for much of the time I was there! Not encouraging weather for sight-seeing!
Next are pictures from closer to home. One from a friends wedding in sleepy Southwold, the next few from my “flight” on the London Eye, then a couple from Norfolk and the last two of the UK are in the Peak District. The last few are from my time in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Click the small pictures below for a full size version.
The last few pictures (the colour ones of Charlotte) are taken on my D300. All the others here have been taken on my EOS300 using Fuji Sensia II ISO100 film.
This one came up at pretty short notice. A friend (that I know from my time in Norway) was working in Budapest and suggest that I come and visit. Not an opportunity I was going to pass on!
It was too cold to spend all my time sightseeing outside in Budapest, so we hired a car with the intention of driving to Dracula’s castle in Romania. Unfortunately that was a bit too far away, especially when it started snowing, so we switched plans and decided, instead, to see some of the less well known parts of the country. In the end we also got to see a little of Romania and Croatia too!
Click the small pictures below for a full size version.
All pictures here have been taken on my EOS300D with the 18-55mm lens. Many of the outdoor pictures were taken using a polarising filter.
If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few resources that you might want to have a look out for:
You usually can’t go wrong with the Lonely Planet Guide, and that proved to be true again here. We used the Eastern Europe Guide more than the specific Hungarian edition.
I also had Budapest: A Critical Guide by Andr?s T?r?k, which is more full of enthusiasm than useful information.
It’s also worth noting that I was preparing to use a joke based on lack of food, goulash and the country name. You’ll be pleased to hear that I restrained myself.
Turkey is a big country. Opinions you’ve heard about Ankara or Istanbul do not necessarily apply. But that’s fair, smaller towns in a country are rarely anything like their capital city. We stayed hundreds of Kilometres away from either of Turkeys major cities, instead we hung in or around the Mediterranean Sea. We flew into Dalaman airport, moved to Fethiye, across to Antalya and back to Dalaman more-or-less along the coast.
This makes somewhere like Bodrum a fairer comparison. But even there, the tales of “in your face” sales techniques make it sound very different.
Even in the tiny part of Turkey that we saw, there was immense variety. On the trip there was everything from thriving local towns (where we felt like we were the only sight-seers) to tourist centres (where the first language appeared to be German) to “wilderness” that felt like it was hundreds of miles from any form of civilisation. In-between there were vast amount of Roman and Greek ruins, statues and busts of Atat?rk, lovely bays that reminded me of Italy and snow-capped mountains.
Few countries can claim to much variety in such a small area. If you can’t tell, I was impressed and I haven’t even spoken about the locals hospitality.
Click the small pictures below for a full size version.
All pictures here have been taken on my EOS300 using Fuji Sensia II ISO100 slide film. Most of the outdoor pictures were taken using a polarising filter.
If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few resources that you might want to have a look out for:
I read Jeremy Seal’s “A Fez of the Heart”(Amazon UK/US) to get the feel of the place before I got there. Unfortunately the area I went to was barely mentioned, but it’s a good book and well worth reading.
Turkey.com has lots of interesting stuff including city guides and travel tips.
I assure you: it’s not deliberate. I’d like to go on record and say that I do not plan to only go to obscure — some have even said dangerous — places. I just go where my interests lie.
I’ve been to a couple of Buddhist countries recently (Thailand and Sri Lanka), but they both practise the same kind of Buddhism — called Theravada. I originally thought that they were the less pure form, the Church of England to Tibet’s Catholicism. I went to Tibet to see the “real” Buddhism, however it turns out that, in some ways, the opposite is true (it’s a long story; leave comments!). Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana) is actually a merger of the traditional Tibetan religion, B?n, with more normal Buddhism.
My confusion over their form of Buddhism was only the start of it. It’s a schizophrenic place, one where the peoples army destroyed some temples and preserved others, fighting between themselves on more than one occasion.
The Chinese have transformed Lhasa to such an extent that there’s now a “Tibetan Quarter,” yet the Tibetans still seem to be certain of their own identity.
It’s easy to see how people become passionate about the cause of the Tibetan people, however to deny that the Chinese have had a significant positive effect (in some ways) is undeniable.
So I’m in two minds about the place. Maybe with these pictures you’ll be able to make up your own mind. Let me know if you do!
The first few pictures here are all in Kathmandu; there are so few of them that it didn’t seem worth creating a new page for them.
Click the small pictures below for a full size version.
“Left turn” sign, Kathmandu, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Replica of the original palace for the Dalai Lama, Tibet
Prayer Wheels are very popular in Tibet!
Lake between airport and first night stop, Tibet
Temple, Tibet
Near a monastery, Tibet
Prayer Flags, Tibet
Monastery, Tibet
Monastery, Tibet
Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet
After a walk near a monastery, Tibet
After a walk near a monastery, Tibet
A monastery, Tibet
Potala Palace, Lahsa, Tibet
Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet
View from the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet
Turquoise Lake, Tibet
Walking round the Barkhor, Lhasa, Tibet
Golden Yaks, Lhasa, Tibet
Tashilumpo (Tashilhunpo) Monastery, Tibet
Tibetan Town
Tibetan monastery
On the way back down from Tibet to Nepal
Sunrise over the Himalayas, Tibet
Sunrise over the Himalayas, Tibet
Rushhour on the Himalayas, Tibet
All pictures were taken on my EOS300 using Fuji Reala ISO100 negative film except for the first two in Kathmandu which were taken using Fuji Sensia II ISO 100 slide film. Most outdoor photographs were taken with a polarising filter.
If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web Sites that you might want to visit:
I’ve deliberately avoided talking about the politics of the area, but as a member of Amnesty it’s difficult not to feel involved to some extent. Have a look at the Free Tibet Campaign or the main Amnesty International site if you want to read more.
As always, there’s a Lonely Planet guide. You can buy a copy from Amazon (UK or US). However, I found the Footprint guide to be much better (UK or US).
You might also like to read “Sorrow Mountain” by Ani Pachen, a Tibetan Nun. The language used is almost child-like in its simplicity, but, because of what she had to endure, it’s not an easy read. Worth the effort, though. (Available from Amazon UK or US.)
Only a fool would go to Norway as the winter approaches. I was told this by just about everyone that I spoke to.
Even the Norwegians said that Autumn was the worst time to visit. In the summer it’s comfortably warm and there’s beautiful country-side you can appreciate in any number of ways. In winter, it’s sharp, bright, covered in snow and beautifully clear. Autumn is just grey, dull and rainy.
In my eight months there I saw Autumn, which was much more beautiful than they claimed, winter, which wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I expected, and the start of summer. I took a mass of film of all seasons, and these are the highlights.
Click the small pictures below for a full size version.
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All these pictures have been taken on my EOS300. The first few pictures were taken on Kodak Royal Gold ISO100, then there are a few on Fuji Superia ISO100, the black and white ones are on Ilford XP2 ISO400 and all those from Tromsø onwards are on Sensia II 100 slide film.
If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web Sites that you might want to visit:
You’re going to need a guide while travelling around Norway. As always, there’s a Lonely Planet guide. You can buy a copy from Amazon (UK or US).
I also used the Insight Guide to Scandinavia (mainly for my trip to Stockholm), but the Lonely Planet guide was better. If I’ve not put you off, you can buy a copy from Amazon UK (not available at Amazon.com). Oddly enough, this book was cheaper to buy in Norway than back in London.
Most of my recent trips have been prompted by a change of jobs, and this one was no exception. I decided on Northern Italy as I’d been there before, but only when I was eleven or so. I had great memories of the place — well, a great milk-shake in Sirmeone — and wanted to explore the area more and see what the place looked like from an adults perspective.
Last time we’d been based near Venice. This time I stayed away from the coast and flew into Milan’s Linate airport, spent a day there (Milan, not the airport!) and then headed, by rail, to Desenzano del Garda, a small town on the south side of Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). From here I was able to visit Verona and see the delights of the other towns on the lake.
All shots were taken with my EOS. I experimented with a number of different films on this trip: Fuji Superia 100, Fuji Reala 100, Kodak Royal Gold 100 and Fuji Velvia 50. Due to the quality of the scans, you can’t really tell the difference but the prints do vary. Differences in colour saturation are mainly due to the light and polarisation.
If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web Sites that you might want to visit:
