I’ve always taken thousands of photos when I travel, but I’m embarrassed to admit that despite owning a DSLR, I’ve always used a little point-and-shoot. Finally I am taking a course in DSLR photography… with the hope of taking the kinds of pictures described below someday:
This quote was at the entrance to the exhibition of Pulitzer prize-winning photographs at the Newseum, Washington DC. Do not visit it without tissues - it's incredibly moving.
Whether I’m poking my head round the corner of an alleyway, or peering through a door ajar, I’m always interested in catching glimpses of how other people live.
I took this photo as part of an assignment for a photography course I’m taking at the moment. There are tons of pretty pictures of the brightly-coloured beach huts that dot Cape Town’s beaches, but I wanted to capture something different: the people around them. I wonder if these two friends walk along the seafront every day? How long have they been doing it for? What are their stories?
Late afternoon stroll - Fish Hoek beachfront
Sometimes the most beautiful scenes are above you – like this butterfly installation in the Dubai Mall. I love spending time in the malls in the UAE – they’re huge, bling, and often display interesting decor and art. The people-watching’s pretty fascinating too.
I wonder if these are as lucky as 1,000 paper cranes?
If you’re ever in Egypt, make sure you spend a few days on the Nile.Whether you choose a very comfortable floating hotel or a more basic felucca, you’ll have plenty of time to sit and watch the world go by.
What amazed me was how narrow the strip of green is either side of the river. In many places it looked like there was less than 1km of vegetation before the desert took over. I was shocked to see that only a very small percentage of Egypt’s land is habitable.
Could this be in 2010? 1810? Even 10BC?
What I love about this image that it is timeless. I imagine this scene has played out along the Nile every day for thousands of years. (Egypt, 2010)
I travelled just four minutes from my home (lucky me!) to capture this dramatic sunset. Sometimes spectacular sights and experiences are right on your doorstep. This year my little project is to view my own city through a traveller’s eyes. (Cape Town, 2008)
** UPDATE: I’ve had several enquiries about purchasing a print of or licensing this image. If you are interested, please email me. **
This is why I live in Cape Town.
A palm reader in Thailand once told me to be careful around stray animals, and not be so friendly to them. Perhaps it was a lucky guess, but he was right – I do always stop to chat with dogs, cats and other animals I find on the street (no touching though, and I keep my rabies vaccinations up to date!). Maybe I’m a little loopy, or maybe it’s a side-effect of travelling solo – either way, even if I don’t speak the local language, I like to think they understand my tone.
I wonder how long these two have been friends for?
I spotted these two canine companions in a tiny village, Rumeli Kavagi, which is one of the stops on Istanbul’s Bosphorous day trip. Continue reading
I posted this as a comment on a blog post on National Geographic’s Intelligent Traveler blog, in response to the question “Was there a single moment in your childhood when you realized how big the world was and how little you knew about it? And from that day forward, you just knew you had to see more.”
So pretty it hurts.
Something magic happened when a little eight year old girl gazed wide-eyed from a Manhattan hotel window. A gruelling thirty hour journey, jetlag and airsickness were suddenly forgotten. This was it! She was in “America”! Goosebumps rose on her arms as she took in the cacophonous, jam-packed street below. Continue reading