Picking favourites is never easy. People ask me, what is your favourite place you have visited, and I usually struggle to choose. If I’m permitted a top five or top ten it’s easier; but ask me tomorrow and I may come up with a different list. And ask me WHY it is a favourite, and I may find it hard to articulate why one place ranks higher than another in my travel memories.
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The Place des Vosges must be one of the most beautiful corners of this beautiful city. Like the Place Dauphine it owes its existence to the city planning ambitions of Henri IV. It was laid out as an elegant residential square where the upper echelons of Parisian society could live and socialise. Much has changed since then, not least due to the Revolution, but it remains as elegant as ever.
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There are places in the world where time seems to stand still. Places where you can feel the weight of history. Places where the people who came before you seem still to linger, just out of sight and reach.
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The terms ‘black and white’ and ‘monochrome’ are often used synonymously in photography. But when you consider the meaning of the latter you quickly realise that they need not be the same thing. A black and white photo can be described as monochrome, but a monochrome image isn’t necessarily black and white. Monochrome simply means ‘one colour’, so any photo dominated by shades of a single colour can be said to be monochrome.
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Today’s rainbow will have only three colours: red, yellow and blue. Why? Because they are the primary colours from which all other colours can be made.
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With 7.888 billion people in our world it shouldn’t be hard to find someone interesting to photograph. Yet, among so many, how do we find the ones that stand out from the crowd? Which are the faces that speak to us? Which seem to tell a story that can be captured in a single shot? Perhaps it’s their clothing, their expression or what they are doing?
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Have you ever watched an artist at work and seen them hold up their hands, using fingers and thumbs to create a rough rectangle? They are considering how best to frame their subject; what to include and what to omit.
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One thing I always enjoy while travelling is to see artists at work or locals demonstrating local crafts. It helps me to understand and appreciate the artistic traditions of a country. It can also open my eyes to the amount of effort that has gone into creating some of the beautiful things I see around me.
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Autolycus is a peddler and pickpocket. No one’s possessions are safe when he is around! But what he regards as ‘unconsidered trifles’ may be of great importance to their owner. In the same way what many might see and dismiss as insignificant, a photographer may spot and deem worthy of an image. A photographer too therefore is often a ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’.
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By ‘looking over’ the places we visit with our cameras, that is properly looking at and seeing them, we are less likely to ‘overlook’ a great photo opportunity.
