Travel
I'm lucky enough to travel a lot but I also aim to understand a place in some depth. So I like to find out about the local history, sociology, wildlife and local arts. I prepare for a trip by looking up photos of the famous sights, they're usually a good guide both about the local visual interest and also a warning of what has already been done or over-done.
I try to use the tools of modern photojournalism and photography to communicate how I feel about a place. You’ll see that I have used Portrait, Street, Interior, Historical, Abstract, Landscape, Historical, Wildlife, Phone-camera and Selfie genres at different times for specific effects.
Troc Café, 38 Impasse de la République
This is l’Isle sur la Sorgue, Vaucluse and it’s Provence at its touristy height. Often unbearably hot in summer but pleasantly warm in the low twenties this afternoon.
L’Isle sur la Sorgue is in an unusual and picturesque location being an island as the river splits but despite flooding, medieval sieges and fires the old town survives with the architecture of a Provençale town that was previously fortified.
The poetry of Frederic Mistral is how the French know of L’Isle sur la Sorgue but I was intrigued to seek out the “restaurant” which Keith Floyd set up there in the Seventies, before his more well-known and longer-lasting venture in Wiveliscombe, Devon. Keith Floyd took cooking on television out of being a public information slot to being fun and entertainment. He paved the way for all the modern television chef personalities. My connection is that I worked the vision for a mini-series he did on location for GMTV in the Nineties.
More photos: L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue - in the steps of Keith Floyd (updated Jan 2024)
Category 4 sunglasses
Why climb a mountain? For a selfie at the top, of course. The show on the Aiguille du Midi is both Mont Blanc, the high mountains and the glaciers but also us, the tourists. There are only so many ways to do a selfie and I saw most of them up here. Mine are the time-honoured method of handing my camera to a trustable-looking fellow tourist.
The lighthouse, the ships, the birds, the rocks, the sea and the sky all contribute to the sense of place of Corsewall Point at the north end of the Rhins of Galloway peninsular in south-west Scotland. Corsewall Lighthouse has been lit since 1816 and protects the rocky coast of the North Channel, the strait between the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
le Point d’Arc
Belvédère du Serre de Tourre
The classic view of le Point d’Arc rock bridge marks the top end of the Gorges of the Ardèche. The high and wide omega loops further downstream that the Ardèche river has eroded in the layers of limestone rock make it a spectacular feature to see both from the rim road and by canoe or kayak. There’s a footpath though the gorge alongside the river bank with a bivouac site midway that’s popular with parties of schoolkids; apparently camping is prohibited in the caves but it seems everyone has done it at some time.
Plenty of water and green vegetation after recent rain, our early start again caught the best light before the clouds and afternoon storms.
The fortified medieval city standing hard above the scrubland and marshes of the Camargue. The towers date from 1246 AD.
