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.
Eastbourne on the “Sussex Sunshine Coast” is pleasant for a promenade even at the beginning of January. But still mounds of shingle burying the stairs to the beaches, despite protection from the west by Beachy Head and the chalk cliffs of the Seven Sisters. Eastbourne’s elegant Victorian pier is still open whilst being restored after last year’s fire. But very poor effort on Christmas decorations in the shopping streets.
Cassis: pretty pleasure port under the cliffs of Cap Cannaille. A favourite flavour for a kir and its own AOC vinyards (Appellation d'origine contrôlée).
Do you pronounce the final s or not?
Berlin will always be Berlin, or so goes the song Berlin bleibt doch Berlin. I didn’t know what to expect on my first visit here since the late eighties and early nineties, firstly as a tourist in West Berlin and (after the wall came down) as a guest of friends in East Berlin.
But Berlin this time felt like a city now living on its past; there doesn’t seem to be a vision for Berlin’s future. A vast building programme has implanted modern buildings alongside the historic architecture but I have found a solid bourgeoisie rather than free radical forward thinking.
The Mercantour is the mountainous area bordering France and Italy where the Alps come down to the Mediterranean sea. The wall of Alps of at least 2500 m. altitude presents a natural frontier that has been disputed over many centuries.
We visited Sospel, with a quaint bridge over the river which includes a fortified gatehouse that was formerly a frontier post. Nearby Castillon was a post on the Alpine section of the Maginot Line.
Further back in to France, St. Martin Vésubie heads the valley of the river Vésubie which reaches the river Var by means of a deep and impressive gorge, one of the belvédères of which is intriguingly named "Le Saut des Français".
And so back to Menton on the French Riviera. After lots of travel the town looks as pretty as ever; host to weekenders as much as to tourists from far away. The mild climate and lack of frost gives a real sub-tropical feel to the gardens. Sunrise over the Mediterranean is a pretty good a way to start the day, a visual preparation for the seemingly chaotic geography of the streets with their feast of shapes and colours,
