SUPER AMSTERDAM SKIES

The construction crane across the canal has been an eyesore, but tonight it adds to the drama.

It’s been a quiet week, settling back into life in Amsterdam, broken by a spectacular evening downpour which caught us out in the open, sans coats or umbrellas.

No sooner had we scuttled inside, dripping wet, than the storm cleared, leaving a sky that had every smartphone in the town pointed heavenwards…

A friend told us he thought he saw one of my photos on the morning TV news (they’d lifted it from Facebook), though no doubt thousands of others captured  the same spectacle.

2015 – FACES AND PLACES

The cool dudes at Jang Island School, Indonesia

So here we are, nearly ready to tick the calendar over. It’s been another busy year on the road, nine countries, a few walks, some good bike rides, a lot of spectacular locations, and friends, new and old.

Apart from some travel articles for the mainstream press and a new play, I’ve been more active with the camera than with the keyboard this year. So it seems appropriate to look back on the year through the lens. A few shots worked out well.

MARRAKECH – exciting, exotic, hot

We’re staying in a riad just round the corner…but which corner?

To be honest, we’re a little apprehensive about visiting Marrakech. We know it’s a popular tourist town, and fear that will mean constant hassling from persistent hawkers, unreliable drivers, getting lost in the medina maze and stomach bugs.

We needn’t have worried.

OUR SECOND OLDEST NATIONAL PARK – and the most beautiful?

19th century interest in Russell Falls started it all.

Australia’s oldest national park is the Royal National Park south of Sydney. Mt Field wasn’t far behind.

It was declared a nature reserve in 1885 and became a national park in 1916. It also has a dubious distinction as the place the last known Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was captured in 1933; they’ve changed the rules about taking nearly extinct species out of national parks since then.

Now it is one of Tasmania’s most popular parks, partly because it is only 64km from Hobart, and partly because it contains some of the most beautiful and varied terrain in the state, the country or indeed on the planet. We were happy to join the day-trippers on a short walk to the gorgeous Russell Falls – carrying the camera of course.

SHOOTING WHITE WATER – what I learned today

Leura Cascades, Blue Mountains…but they don’t really look like this.

I took a short walk in the Blue Mountains yesterday, with camera at the hip. A storm was on its way, and I’d read that gloomy weather is ideal for taking shots of waterfalls.

I wanted to practise getting that ‘soft water’ effect, popular on postcard and poster shots. It’s phoney of course, but it’s satisfying when you can make a shot look something like what the pros can manage. A bit of photoshopping was required too – another learning experience for me.

NEW CAMERA, NEW SHOTS, SAME OLD MOUNTAINS

Rodriguez Pass, Blue Mountains, New South Wales

We’ve come to the end of summer holiday time in Australia. No more excuses for the recent slackness in my blogging. Normal service has resumed.

In my time away from desk and computer I spent a few days in the lovely Blue Mountains, just outside Sydney, armed with my new camera (a Canon 70D, for those interested in such things.)

The weather was fine, clear and warm, not ideal for taking atmospheric shots. To my mind the mountains are most appealing when mist fills the valleys and clings to the cliffs.

Nevertheless, I did happen across wildlife that obligingly stayed close enough to shoot – with the camera only of course.