Last week I spoke to Meites, a cool guy who has a YouTube Channel all about his travels and adventures around the world with his camera. It got me thinking about some of the interesting places that I’ve been lucky enough to go to. There’s been a lot of destinations over the years but in the last couple, I haven’t had much opportunity to travel for a whole number of reasons. I’m getting itchy feet now though so I thought I’d share some of my favourite places I’ve been and taken some shots. I’m not going to go into every trip but it’s nice to see some of these images again after such a long time.
First of all, it has to be Barcelona! My favourite city! So full of life and energy! I could do a whole book on the images that I have from Barcelona but here are a few from my last trip. Oh and if you’re expecting to get picture-postcard snaps of landmarks etc you’re going to be sadly disappointed haha! I always get drawn to the unusual stuff. I love Spain and despite it not being the most exotic place I’ve been, there are so many personal ties and things there that constantly draw me back there.
I’m going to rattle through some of these trips quite quickly….
Another very cool European city that I was really surprised by was Vienna. A city I knew very little about but was lucky enough to go to on a job with The Lonely Planet. It’s a very interesting city that had a distinctly old architectural style but, as a city, seemed to be very young and cool if that makes any sense what so ever. Fast-paced and creative! Also, home of the famous Spanish Riding School and the Lipizzan horses, where you aren’t supposed to take pictures but I might have broken the rules a little to get a shot or two. I think I must’ve been going through a motion blur phase for this trip!
Where to next? Let’s keep it European and go for Pisa in Italy! I got loads of images of the leaning tower obviously and also a hell of a lot of shots of tourists. Not a favourite place of mine at all but it was an interesting visit. I was there on a job and we were flying out of Pisa so we had to go and see the tower in that time. We only had 45 minutes on the last day before we had to get to the airport and fly back to the UK. So with cameras primed and ready, we became the 45-minute tourists. The tower wasn’t hugely interesting but I still managed to find some interest in the mundane stuff nearby.
Staying on a tourist theme, when I was in Stockholm I took this series of images that once again doesn’t show you any of the beauty of the city, and it is beautiful, but shows you something I found interesting for 10 minutes ‘tourist watching’.
A quick jump over the border from Sweden to Norway, in the far north on the Lofoten Islands late one night where I was incredibly lucky to get to see the Northern Lights. It was a strange experience being woken up by a call to my room when I was fast asleep but it was well worth getting up for. I wouldn’t say the lights were very strong but it was definitely visible to the naked eye. It came out better on camera with a long exposure. One day I’d love to go further north and see if I can see them again but hopefully with all the colour you see on those National Geographic pictures.
Another really random one, while we were location scouting in the middle of nowhere on the Lofoten Islands, we came across this wooden shack and it turned out that POBEL ( http://www.pobel.no/ ), one of Norway's foremost street artists had been there first. He was working on his ‘Getto Spedalsk’ project, decorating abandoned buildings in the Lofoten islands in the north of Norway, along with fellow artist "Dolk". Pretty random!
Somewhere a little more exotic now and these are two are my favourite places I’ve visited. Firstly Cambodia! My best friend was living over there at the time so I had to go and visit. We did everything! Sleeping and having BBQs on a deserted island, seeing the mind-blowing temples of Angkor Wat. Solemnly walking around The Killing Fields and S21 Prison staggered that it was such recent history, had a tuk-tuk accident, went to a party at a UN Ambassador house on the Mekong River and a drank a whole lot of Espresso Martinis. The stories and memories from this one trip alone will stay with me forever!
I can’t recommend this place enough. The people, the culture, the history, the food! Holy shit! The food was incredible! Get yourself there at some point if you can!
One more country as I’m starting to make myself sad that I don’t have any trips booked!
Last but not least… Jamaica! Just a few from what felt like thousands of images taken! It’s always the people that I meet that create the strongest memories for me of any place I visit and as a portrait photographer, I can’t help but always be drawn back to the people. I did take some scenery shots of palm tree-filled sunny beaches and all that but you can see that in any holiday brochure! What you might not see is a man casually riding down the beach on his horse fishing for octopus with his bare hands or a Rastaman holding 6 puppies or even see some crazy guy diving 80ft out of a tree into the sea! They’re the stories and memories for me!
Anyway, I’m sure I’ve bored you enough with my travel pictures or given you the urge to book something! I know I need to now after reliving these trips. Where would you like to go to in the world on your next trip? Answers on a postcard!
Until next time week… well if I’ve not booked flight out of here!