Outdoor Photography Magazine
For over a decade, I have written an opinion column for Outdoor Photography Magazine
combining ideas and stories relating to travel and photography.
Here is a selection of those columns which can be downloaded and read at your leisure.
Connections
“ What still excites me about photography is the opportunity to engage with that physical world, to find out why a landscape draws attention, what drives or forces people to live in cities or rural backwaters …..”
Layer Cake
“wrapped in massive coils, they look like giant iced doughnuts which even two wiry lads struggle to heave over the side of their boat …..”
Human Traces
“Traces of our movements, beliefs and existence are not always so negative. Frequently they are markers which help us to understand and maybe accept a landscape or culture for what they are or have been. ….. “
Taking Time Out
“In teahouses across Iran, it was a chance to relax and discuss current events, politics, the local soap opera and frequently, to recite passages from the texts of the great Sufi Poet, Hafez ….. “
Out of the Shadows
“The Mekong River is wide and sluggish as it passes under the main bridge in Cantho. The Delta is already guiding its little streams and tributaries away through the Vietnamese paddy fields and flood plains to the South China Sea…..”
A Face in the Crowd
“In hot pursuit of the environmental portrait, I have, perhaps naively, often relied on the notion that everyone is a viable and willing subject …..”
Industrial Song Lines
“He delivered an impassioned soliloquy about the trail known as the Black Path, a once busy thoroughfare crowded with workers on their way to a lifetime of steel and shipbuilding on Teesside …..”
White Light
“Mountains surrounding the vast Vatnajökull ice field had disappeared except for a few low lying ridges. Visitors wandered tentatively along the pebbled shoreline and bluffs, a scene L. S. Lowry would have appreciated …..”
Desert Blues
“Dawn is a magical time in the desert, not only for its subtle colours but also to discover a spaghetti junction of nocturnal insect tracks imprinted on the sand like some ancient script …..”
The Power of Three
“If I looked long enough at the fallen maple leaves on the bamboo and stone outside the main shrine at Kamigamo, I could convince myself that they had arranged themselves purposefully into groups of three ….. “
In Praise of Pachyderms
“Perched on top of these lumbering Pachyderms was a new experience for me and it took a while to get used to the sways and lurches, particularly with my camera bag balanced precariously …. “
Blind Faith
“The day of the festival itself was a peaceful family affair right up until dusk when raucous processions took Saraswati for immersion in the river where her clay and straw body was returned to nature ….. “
Identity Parade
“Dolma’s three daughters carried another pile of turquoise and lapis lazuli stones to the table as the Ladakhi headdress (perak) began to take shape ….. “
The Beat Goes On
“The sound of music, a chorus of human voices or indeed chaotic traffic on an Indian street or a protest march winding its way down a Mexican avenue ….. “
All in a Day’s Work
“From manual labour to the control and maintenance of high technology, ‘people at work’ formed one of the first themes I tackled when studying documentary photography”
Kindred Spirits
“A young Tibetan lama beckoned me in. The small courtyard was deep in shadow, but light reflected off the high, whitewashed walls bathing a dozen or so pilgrims in a pale blue cast…. “
Water, Water, Everywhere
“We frequently take water for granted as it pours from our taps or cascades endlessly and sublimely down a Scottish Glen …
Many People come Looking
“Anyone who travels with adventure at heart and curiosity of mind will know the wonderful feeling of engaging with local people, a different culture ……. “