Arch of Santa Catalina, Antigua Guatemala
this one was tough, single old rough jpeg lots of copying and remixing. Highly recommend a stay in Antigua de Guatemala, its a street photographers paradise (the incredible Spanish Colonial architecture helps). This was my second visit, and i stayed right under this arch at the Hotel Convento Santa Catalina. Its run by a Californian lady and is truly spectacular, boutiquey (is that an ok word?) and rustic. A fantastic place for the weary traveller to relax in some luxury
The Stepping Stones
An early autumn walk in the surrey countryside, and some stepping stones to negotiate across the River Mole, Box Hill. What a wonderful place to be. Best bit was watching various dogs arrive at the stones with confused faces. They didnt know whether to go for it, swim or just look up hoping their owners would carry them across. 
RIP Corinne Day
I felt compelled to pen a quick line of tribute to the late great Corinne Day, who sadly died in late August at a young age, a victim of cancer. I can’t remember who introduced me to her work – it was around the time she did some portraits of the immortal Kate Moss, which I think really had introduced her to a big audience. I devoured her work, and saw a couple of exhibitions of hers over the years in London. For me, she goes a fair way to epitomising 90′s / noughties fashion and portrait photography. I’ve included one of my favourite shots from her, Kate Moss photographed for the ‘Summer of Love’ issue of The Face magazine in 1990. It just about sums up the youth culture and social values which surrounded me growing up in the UK (I was 15 year old spotty raver schoolkid student hip hop sasha magazine snogging freak when this was shot). Anyway, check out her website, there’s a really decent portfolio of her work there – you’ll see what I’m getting at. She rocked.
Supply and Demand
Caraz Market, Peru. I had literally hundreds of pairs of eyes suspiciously trained on me as i marauded this fascinating, covered market poking my lens around.
I always find markets a very fun environment in which to take photos. I think I’ve come to realise in my limited experience, that the locals are extremely wise to photographers in this situation, and quite frankly – half of them are taking the piss out of you as you walk around. So confidence is key, otherwise it can be a very unnerving situation.
Above all, i think it really, infinitely, helps to be friendly, interact with traders and other shoppers, show interest, enjoy yourself and buy stuff! Blend in. That way you earn your right to a place there, and furthermore the right to take away an image.
Paraisa Samba School
A black and white shot of the girls from London’s Paraisa Samba School, on parade at the recent London Thame’s festival. This was really hard to shoot being in low light after dark, and i was trying to avoid using a flash which would wash everything out. The girls and guys were really into posing for shots, and who can blame them looking as fabulous as they do!
Aletha Flankrin – I Say a Rittre Player (Dimitli Flom Paris Le-edit)
Crowdpleaser Alert! An all time Soul Classic gets re-edited by Dimitri from Paris. Brilliant
Bhaktapur, Town of Devotees भक्तपुर
This is a typical street scene in the town of Bhaktapur in Khatmandu valley. A very hot day early on in my trip to nepal a couple of years ago. Bhaktapur is known as the ‘City of Devotees’ and is one of the 3 royal cities in the Kathmandu Valley. It is very rich in architectural beauty, and filled to the brim with ancient Hindu and Buddhist religious sites, and palaces and courtyards. I really loved nepal for the contrasting religions, seeing buddhists and hindu’s living in what seemed like perfect harmony. Great place. Bloody hot.
Hotel Los Jardines – Vinales, Cuba
Time for something completely different. This ones from the archives. 2005 in fact, way before I had a digital camera. This is the spectacular view over the valley of Vinales, located in the Pinar Del Rio province north west of Havana. One of Cuba’s greatest natural attractions, the valley was declared a National Natural Monument for its remarkable landscapes.Apparently it is the finest example of a karst valley in Cuba, where mogotes (the knolls with rounded tops and steep slopes you can see in this shot), contrast with cultivated lands-mainly tobacco, taro and bananas-and scattered peasant houses, all forming a rural landscape of great beauty. We loved our time there (though the food wasn’t brilliant!). Technical: Nikon F80, Fuji Reala 100 (though this is processed based on a terrible Jessops scan of my negative. Dont let Jessops scan your film!). Single jpeg tonemapped, minor adjustments in lightroom.
September Sunset, Westminster
Another HDR shot from Friday’s photowalk, best viewed on black. I’ve been getting hundreds of hits today since Trey posted a link from his stuck in customs site, to the flickr group www.flickr.com/groups/stuckincustomslondon.
Check the group out if you like this kind of thing!
In other news, I’ve been reading about the new Nikon D7000 with interest. Seems to occupy a new space in Nikon’s lineup. But as a friend said to me today, its about the lenses, its about you, and whatever is in your pocket at the right time. Anyway check out
http://www.chasejarvis.com
for some sample shots and thoughts on the new camera.
Thames Festival Fireworks
A spectacular fireworks display marked the end of the Thames Festival as crowds enjoyed music and dancing on the South Bank. We climbed onto a seriously precarious wall by blackfriars bridge to watch the fireworks which rounded off the evening. The thames was raging in a straight drop 10 metres below us and I sprained my arm climbing up, but the effort was rewarded with a pretty spectacular view and I grabbed a ton of shots! We could seriously rock it in 2012 with events like this, the energy in the night parade earlier that evening was really something to behold.
Stuck Outside the Tatershall Castle
I spent Friday evening on a photowalk with renowned travel photographer, Trey Ratcliff (of Stuck in Customs fame) his charming wife, plus a bunch of fellow photonuts. here’s an early result. We walked up and down the southbank, over to parliament and then along embankment and waterloo bridge. Trey stopped a few times to take a shot and walk us through it, how he was setting up and what his thought process was telling him. I had a great time and met a whole bunch of really nice guys into the same styles of photography as I was, and I picked up some good tips too. Trey is wonderfully down to earth, very calm and easy going. My kind of person. His wife is utterly charming too, what a great couple. If you’re interested, there’s a group I’ve started on Flickr where you can see everyone’s work from the evening. http://www.flickr.com/groups/stuckincustomslondon/
Dina Johanna, Zanzibar
aah, the spice island of Zanzibar. Its getting on for a year now since we were there, i proposed to my fiancee Barbara during our trip there. This shot is taken in a small fishing village clled Kizimkazi in the extreme south west of zanzibar, away from alot of the bigger brashier resorts in the north. the tides there are incredible due to the extremely flat beaches. here the very friendly fisherman are tending their old skiff at low tide. A wonderful place to while away some time and take it all in, get to know everyone. Technical: single jpeg, Nikon D80. Lightroom adjustments in Develop / Basic module, exported to Topaz for some ‘spicify’ adjustments using a low saturation setting. Noise adjustments in Nik Define.
To the Capitolio
I’ve been to Havana twice. This was the second occasion, when I took my parents in 2008. This is Havana Vieja (old Havana) which I probably don’t need to say, is a street photographers paradise. This image has been jazzed up a bit using the excellent Topaz Adjust, which I’m currently toying around with a fair bit. You can get a free 30 day trial and discounted coupon codes, i highly recommend a play!
Carhuaz, buried town
20 years ago this was the site of a landslide which killed 20,000 people and buried an entire town. Today its a rubbish dump. The looming peaks and rapidly melting glaciers are still a huge problem, with massive landslides here as recently as April. I urge you to read more at this link http://blog.oup.com/2010/05/climate-lesson/ Thanks for listening.
Anse Spiced, Seychelles
aaah the sweet sight of my Seychelles beach. Truly a paradise. This is anse union on La Digue Island (where cars are banned). processed from single Jpeg in Topaz (great tool!)
