Travel Photo Blog

March 2nd, 2010

Sedan chair in Tibet

These porters offered to carry me up and down the mountain to see the Hailougou glacier. They told me it is safer, because they are specially selected, and no Tibetan porters are allowed to work here.
It seems that this site has been blocked in China because of this photo.

August 5th, 2010

Raindrops reflect Nelson's column on a London bus window

I took this on the top floor of a number 24 bus passing through Trafalgar Square during an afternoon shower in early August. The bus route takes passengers past or near several famous London landmarks and I had took several shots through the rainy windows, focusing on the raindrops for an impressionist effect. When I got home and enlarged the photos, this one stuck out for the myriad reflections of Nelson's column in the raindrops

March 30th, 2003

A Bar called Devessa

A bar in Rio de Janeiro, shot on black-and-white 1600 ASA film

January 1st, 2007

3 wheels good

Provincial Town, North East China, Winter 2007. The town was a short drive from Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang province. My companion asked the drivers to move the taxis into a line and stand outside by their cabs, but only two of them complied. It was at least 20 degree below zero.

August 5th, 2008

Head of ice

Every year they carve ice statues in the freezing north city of Harbin

February 15th, 2010

Jiu ZhaiGou

Maybe the most beautiful scenic tourist destinations in China, these remote valleys are so full of tourists, you have to get up early to take photos.

November 18th, 2009

Mother and Child on Star Ferry

We don't usually get such cold weather in November. Everyone is walking around in thick heavy coats, even though the temperature is only 15?°C. They are not used to this kind of weather, especially at this kind of year.

October 9th, 2009

London Black Cab Taxi, Kentish Town

Low shutter speed. wide aperture, blur gives a sense of motion.

February 28th, 2011

Sightseeing in Shanghai

Like a weekend tourist, I spent Saturday and Sunday snapping Shanghai landmarks, like the International Finance Tower in Pudong, the lonely hearts corner and the funfair in People Square, Shanghai Fine Art Museum, the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, the Jinjiang Hotel and some other colonial era buildings in the French concession. The lonely hearts corner was the most interesting because as I translated the advertisements out loud into English, I attracted a number of English speakers who corrected my translations and explains local marriage customs to me. The adverts almost all had the same feature set: the person's age, height, salary, real estate, educational history, but some of them added interesting details; one person claims to be from a household approved by the local neighbourhood committee while another emphasised owning several houses and having a degree from a famous university.

July 18th, 2007

Dragon head

At the famous floating restaurant in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. The jumbo has its own private ferry service. It serves Chinese food, including reasonably priced dim sum menu until 6pm.

February 1st, 2007

The world's largest seatest buddha

Best time to visit is early morning, as the buddha looks east and his gold paint lights up nicely in the early morning sun.
The Buddha is situated south of Lantau island, and Hong Kong Chep Lap Kok international airport is at the north end. The island is known for its world life, including its cows, which have been abandoned and rather wild.

August 13th, 2008

The worlds longest wall

Isolating walls have a new lease of life in China with the Great Fire Wall of China, a digital barrier to which the government expends huge amounts of labour and expense, probably to little avail, because it can be easily jumped. The original Great Wall was also jumped by, amongst others, the mongols. By the way, it is not true that the Great Wall is visible from the moon to the naked eye.

May 1st, 2009

Xian Wall Guards

They guard the entrances to Xian's medieval City Wall. I caught them on camera marching to work. A lucky shot??? It was early one summer morning in 2009, and I was walking along the top of the wall, from where there are great views of the city. The wall is the largest and most complete in China, and has recently been rebuilt. It was previously knocked down by the Communist government, along with a lot of other valuable old architecture.

August 30th, 2009

Blue October

A Muslim woman outside a blue lit pub in Kentish Town, London

June 30th, 2010

Garden apple

Grown in the back garden. We think of apples as quintessentially English, Americans think they are as American as apple pie, but apples were not grown in England until the Norman invasion in 1066, making them an early of example of fusion food.

July 1st, 1985

Mother carrying daughter in a basket

I took this photo in 1985 on a long month-long journey around China by train with my mother and a friend. The most memorable places were in western China and Tibet. This photos was taken in Sichuan. Cheap plastic goods had not yet replaced traditional hand-woven baskets.

January 10th, 2010

Bird Friends

Another Brazilian friend is living on this island; the parrot Lulu, who lives with Caroline in Pak Kok.

January 15th, 2006

morning at the jetty

Early morning by the pier in Paraty. There are lots of boats here you can rent by the hour

January 8th, 2004

Surfer Boy

After the summer rains on the Sao Paulo literal notre, New Year 2004, people come out to play. . Almost a good photo, according to Alex.

July 1st, 1985

Fan man

Chinese men get hot in the summer, and when they do, they take their fans out. What I like about this photo is the contrast between the macho expression and the elegant fan

July 20th, 2011

A rainy day in London

I was hanging around Aldgate Station waiting for a friend, after reading the book Street Photography, which features work by a dozen photographers. It inspired me to take some shots of pedestrians with my cellphone. I was impressed by the variety and colours of umbrellas. The British know how to enjoy rainy weather!

March 25th, 2011

Fujian Earth Houses

A traditional style of house in Fujian.
These houses are built from earth and house whole communites for decades, if not centuries. A traditional feature of Fujian province, some of them are being bought up by entrepreneurs who redevelop them as tourist projects.
However things do not always work out as planned: the people in this house were cheated of their windows by a Shanghai company who replaced the valuable old wooden frames with cheap modern ones.

March 22nd, 2011

Shanghai Huihuang Riding Club

Horse riding has been making a comeback in China recently and has become another favourite hobby of the rich, along with golf, yachting, collecting art, wine and antiques. One of Shanghai's best-known riding clubs is the Huihuang Racing Course, near Luheng Road subway station in Minhang.
Here you will find there are several dozen horses, and a similar number of grooms and trainers. A one-hour lesson costs 280 yuan and there is a covered riding area for rainy weather as well as an outdoor track.
The trainers seem to go quite fast, providing an edutainment experience. My child was at all horse with a badly fitting saddle so that her feet did not reach the stirrups, but when I complained a properly fitting saddle was quickly found to replace it.

March 12th, 2011

Suzhou creek side cafe life

A cafe on a creek in Suzhou. Nearby is the imperial canal which was the major national north-south transport route in imperial China.
Suzhou is half an hour from Shanghai on the high speed train service which leaves from Shanghai Station; the tickets cost about 40 yuan and seem to be valid all day, despite being sold for specific times. Suzhou has cleaner air than Shanghai and is a popular day tour destination.

March 3rd, 2011

Huashan hospital

People waiting at the Huashan hospital on Huashan Road in the French Concession, Shanghai. The tall glass views provided good views on this sunny day in early spring 2011.
It took a long time to be seen, partly because the doctor operates a dual queuing system: numbered tickets are issued to patients at reception, but the doctor keeps the used tickets, giving them out to patients who use them to jump the queue. These patients ask for them by barging into the consulting room, interrupting the doctors attendance to other patients.

February 12th, 2011

A small patch of square

A different perspective on Hong Kong tall buildings

February 11th, 2011

winter flowers

Winter is nearly over, and the lovely flowers blossoming all winter on the wall next door have started to wilt. Means spring must can not be far away.

July 18th, 2007

A factory which makes Xmas Cards

A factory which makes Xmas Cards

July 18th, 2005

Windy Road in Tibet

Taken on the route from Mianyang to Jiuzhaigou