When you visit North Korea you put yourself in the hands of your guides. There is no option to choose your itinerary day to day beyond the rough outline proposed by your tour company at the time of booking. And even that can change, as we discovered when a tropical storm hit the southern part of the country where we were staying at the time.
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Unfortunately summer seems to have deserted the UK this August, as it did in July! We’re told it’s the jet stream to blame. In July it shifted southwards, flowing directly across the UK and Ireland. This is close to its usual winter position and carries low pressure systems directly towards us. It also meant that warm air was contained across central and southern Europe, creating a severe heatwave, while dragging in cooler air over us.
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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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We’ve had more than our fair share of cooling showers this month, not to mention the odd downpour. But heat has been in short supply. After June’s heatwave our weather seemed to flip and many days this month have felt more like October than July!
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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.
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Hummingbirds are among the hardest of birds to photograph, I find. So even though it’s not perfect I was happy to get this shot of one in Costa Rica last year.
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The writer, the painter and the photographer have the power to ‘shake up a familiar scene’. Through their eyes we often discover something anew even though we may have seen a similar scene many times before.
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There is something about a reflection that draws us as photographers. Is it the illusion of seeing double? Or the fact that we can capture double the beauty?
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Jane Austen is one of my very favourite authors and I couldn’t agree more with her remark that, 'If adventures do not befall a lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad'.
