During my stay in Bulgaria last week, I was lucky enough to be taken by Genka and her brother Encho to a place called Kalofer, where there was a beautiful forest and river. The four of us (including Genka's friend Kamelia) went hiking up through the forest, coming to rest at a stunning lagoon...

No trip to Bulgaria, such as my fifth and most recent last week, would be complete without watching my good friends Genka Zlatanska and Petar Atanassov dancing salsa!! They have both danced on national television and at salsa festivals, and watching them both is a mesmerising experience. They...

Spent a lovely Sunday with my good friend Sally in Gloucestershire, in spite of the overcast weather. One of the places we visited was the beautiful Painswick Rococo Gardens, which had a stunning array of foliage and flowers, as well as a maze and small ponds. The first few images show views of...

Happy Independence Day to my American friends! This morning I attended the unveiling of a statue of the late great President Ronald Reagan outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square. I arrived early and got a good position from which to photograph. I managed to capture Secretary Condoleeza...

Not my green thumb, and I certainly couldn't name all these flowers. But they are photogenic! Why post them here? Well, I wanted to show that even with a non-macro prime lens, specifically the Nikkor 50mm F/1.4 AF-D, it is possible to take half-decent photos of flowers fairly close up. I have...

Despite the scorching heat, it was a great day out at Hatfield House, now celebrating its 400th year. The grounds are extensive and very well tended, and populated with many sculptures from the late Henry Spencer Moore. The main house did not allow any photography inside, but was thoroughly...

Often enough, there is enough colour and life in one's own garden to capture. A rare respite for me today in the blistering heat as I shot a few of the flowers in the garden. I used the Sigma 18-50mm F/2.8 HSM Macro. An excellent lens that I don't use that much and will therefore try to sell. I...

These are some of my friend Bizhan's excellent photos. Bizhan used both his Canon 70-300mm IS USM, and his 60mm F/2.8 Macro lens. He has captured the animals in some terrific lighting and especially the eyes are captivating. Enjoy!   Cotton Tail Tamarind. Giant Tortoise. Tapir. Baby...

My friend Bizhan and I visited Linton Zoo in Cambridge last week to get some animal photos.    Striking a good balance between containing and conserving the animals and allowing visitors to fully appreciate them is undeniably difficult as we discovered at Linton Zoo. We didn't get to...

Lisa and myself have had quite a bit of experience photographing in zoos, and have visited some of the top zoos and animal parks in the world. A few days ago, Lisa and her friends went to Southwick Zoo in Massachusetts. Lisa managed to get some fantastic shots, typically placing the animal in a...

Following on from Lisa's terrific butterfly shots in the previous post, my friend Bizhan has contributed his own exceptional butterfly images here. They were taken at Butterfly World in Hertfordshire, as yet unfinished, but once completed, will be the largest butterfly experience on...

Lisa took some amazing photos in the Butterfly Garden at the Boston Museum of Science this past weekend. They are terrific shots and I have thus decided to post them here. Lisa managed to get close, carefully select her backgrounds and keep the eyes in sharp focus. She used the Nikon D5000 with...

To describe Cambodia/Vietnam in a paragraph is a tough challenge. There was so much to see and do. A short flight from Hong Kong took me to Siem Reap, where the largest temples in the world reside. The temples cover a vast area of land within the cleared jungle so one has to get around using the...

I have posted some of Lisa’s photos here from our New York trip. She really took some exceptional shots in my humble opinion, capturing the places we went to and the things we saw with great vision and enthusiasm.   Lisa took terrific pictures of everything, but her photos from the...

New York City is somewhere that I was always reluctant to return to after my first trip there exactly 11 years ago. I’m not entirely sure why that was, but any reservations I had were entirely unfounded, as my recent trip there with my friend Lisa proved to be another amazing vacation for...