Old and new. Historical and modern. Rich and poor. East and West. A place is always more interesting when two opposites sit side by side. Sometimes it’s a comfortable juxtaposition; sometimes it feels awkward. But it always makes for a good photo. (Malaysia, 2004)
Fun fact: A scene in the movie 'Entrapment' was shot along this stretch of the Melacca River.
For nearly a decade I’ve been torn about travelling to India. On the one hand, it’s seemed so exotic and colourful. On the other, I’ve wondered if I’d be able to handle the poverty, dirt and, inevitably, Delhi belly. It’s not exactly the place you’d go to for a relaxing holiday, I thought.
But a country has never daunted me before, so I put on my big girl pants and booked my ticket to Delhi. It’s a cliché, but I have fallen in love with India. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes are all so overwhelming – but so wonderful. Yes, there is terrible poverty. Yes, there is garbage along the streets. But there are also exquisite buildings, quirky signs, incredible food, wonderfully diverse cultures, and so much more. The people I met were without fail an appealing balance of charming respect and playful humour. And the food… it’s heaven for vegetarians! (I even managed to avoid bad a stomach upset.)
So India, I am sorry I judged you before I’d even met you. I will be back, often.
Preparing offerings at the Jama Masjid mosque at Fatehpur Sikri, outside Agra. (January 2012)
Sometimes you just want to go somewhere where everyday life feels far away. Where things are not quite real. I get that feeling when I’m in Dubai – which is also known in my head as Arabic Disneyland. It’s all so clean and shiny and sparkly and unreal – and that’s just the airport…
There are many elements of the UAE that don’t sit well with me, like their environmental degradation and poor labour laws, but I seem able to ignore those when visiting friends for a luxurious couple of days. And a surreal balcony vista like this helps make my daily stresses feel very distant.
Dubai's motto: build it and they will come? The marina awaits its floating tenants.
Italians just infuse everything with beauty and passion. It’s in their food. Their buildings. Their fashion, music, art. Every vista is a postcard. Florence, Italy, 2004
Experimenting with breaking the rule of thirds. I think it works.
Have you ever spent some time in a foreign supermarket? It’s fascinating! You can learn so much about the locals.
In the UK, there’ll be an entire aisle for breakfast cereals. In the USA, there are more types of milk than you can imagine. Here in Cape Town, the cheese selections are usually excellent. In Kuala Lumpur, an amazing fresh produce hall had me buying one of every fruit I’d never seen before (there were many – and it was such fun trying them all!).
This display at a Whole Foods store just screams ‘first world’… (Washington DC, USA, 2011)
You think they could have made sure all the peppers' stems were facing the right way.
Who knew bags of oranges hanging on a wall could look so striking? There’s beauty in all sorts of everyday things if you just look for it. (Istanbul, Turkey, 2009)
Buy the second one from the left and you'll be short-changed...
It was this alleyway scene in a back street of Rhodes Town that triggered a new collection: I collect photos of Vespas and other scooters in interesting contexts.
This first one is still my favourite. The contrasting silvered textures of the wall, cobblestones and the front of the scooter are just beautiful.
Don't you wish you were there, right now?
(Rhodes, Greece, 2002)