Gallery: best ever? Who am I to say?!

I’m starting with this photo because it brings back such wonderful memories of our mokoro rides in the Okavango Delta. A mokoro is a traditional boat of this region, historically made by digging out the trunk of a large straight tree. These days most are made from fibre-glass, which, while not so traditional, is much better for the environment as fewer trees are felled.

A ride in one of these boats is such a peaceful way to explore this special environment. There is no engine noise to disturb the calm or frighten the birds. You can explore the narrower channels from a low viewpoint that gives you a better appreciation of the way animals, mainly hippos, have carved out these routes through the papyrus and reeds.

Riding at sunset brings another huge benefit as the wide skies of the delta are reflected in the still waters. I was pleased with a lot of the shots I took on two separate rides; this is just one of many.

I visited the Okavango Delta in July 2018

I know I’m not the only visitor to Pokhara, Nepal, to have taken photos of the sun rising over the Himalaya range. I saw the crowds there for myself! So I can’t claim to be proud of this image; I simply captured what was there. But I was rather pleased to see that light aircraft approaching and get a shot of it nicely positioned between two pink-hued clouds. That’s the only reason it made the cut today!

I visited Pokhara in November 2022

Back in 1991 we did our first ever road trip in the US, spending two weeks exploring California. We fell in love with the state and with the whole road trip experience. One of the places we both loved the most was Mono Lake, with its incredible tufa formations.

This is what is known as a terminal lake, as it has no outlet. It is fed by a number of tributaries and also by underwater springs. Because these waters have nowhere to go, they evaporate in the desert air. The combination of this natural process with unnatural human interventions has resulted in a captivating and unworldly landscape. A world of jagged rocky outcrops known as tufa towers reflected in perfectly still waters.

Back in 1991 I took as many photos as my limited budget would allow (film and processing was expensive back then). I thought I’d captured its beauty but looking back at them in recent years I was disappointed with the results. In 2024 I got a second chance as we planned a northern California itinerary to revisit some favourite sights from that first trip. This time of course I was able to take as many photos as I wanted. And visiting first thing in the morning meant that the light was much better than our previous mid-afternoon visit, and the lake almost perfectly still. This is just one of a number of images that sum up the beauty of this spot for me.

I visited Mono Lake in October 2024 (and in June 1991)

They say there is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing. But it’s certainly true that while travelling some kinds of weather seem better than others. And to have rain throughout our visit to the famed rice terraces of Luzon Island was a bit of a disappointment. However I have to admit that the low cloud, although obscuring distant views, added atmosphere to those closer at hand.

But that’s not why I’m proud of this shot. I’d told our guide that I didn’t feel able to do a long hike in this region, so she proposed what she called an easy walk to visit one of the villages, Bangaan. However her notion of an easy walk was anything but to me! It involved a descent of around 500 stairs, varying in depth from just a couple of centimetres to probably more than 20! As I made my way very cautiously down those steps, often slippery and very uneven, I stopped often for photos as the views of the village below changed and new angles on both buildings and rice terraces opened up.

I was proud of making it down without falling, proud to have taken some decent photos in the process, and even more proud of making it back up again!

I visited Bangaan in February 2025

I’ll say straightaway that this is far from being the best photo I ever took, or even close to it! But I’m proud of this photo, as with the one above, because getting it was a challenge. We had a less-than-ideal guide here, who spoiled what should have been a magical encounter with a tigress and her nearly adult cub by standing up in the vehicle to take his own photos, thus blocking our view. By the time we’d shouted at him to sit down, the tigers had almost past us and this shot of the cub was the only half-decent one I managed to capture.

At the time I was disappointed with it, but with improvements in the editing tools I possess I’ve been able to create an image that better reflects what I saw, which is always my aim in editing. I cropped it, used Topaz AI to upscale and sharpen it, then used Nik Color Efex filters to increase the contrast and boost the colour a little. I’m not claiming that this is a great photo, or even a good one, but I am pleased that I managed to rescue something from that day.

I visited Ranthambore in October 2015