This was the road to nowhere I found whilst walking around the hills of Harris. It was close to a tiny enclave called Meavaig, on the way back from Hushinish. This was the last of the sun for a few days, which was a shame as the island looked incredible under blue skies and fluffy white clouds.
Machu Picchu at dawn, taken back in 2007 on my medium format film camera. This image is around the same size as the actual transparency. There were a lot more people there but most of them were standing in a line next to me taking a similar shot to me.
If you have not seen Machu Picchu, it is one of those special places you should try to see in your lifetime, especially if you are able to trek to it along the Inca trail.
I was standing on the edge of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake at a dizzy altitude of 3,811 m, when the girl in this photograph approached me and asked if I would take a picture of her. This was in 2003, so this shot was on 120 film, certainly well before the widespread usage of digital cameras. I doubt she will ever see this image, unless she somehow managed to find my blog.
If you ever decide to see South America, I strongly recommend that you visit Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia. The lake is beautiful, with the Andes scraping the sky behind them in the distance.
On my last trip to Peru, a few years ago, I was trekking in the Andes surrounding Cusco in the south central mountains of the country. The area is awash with Inca ruins, including Machu Picchu. I hired a motorbike for the day and drove around the city, hoping to find something interesting, when I stumbled across this place. I have no idea where it was but there were no tourists there, just a few llamas.
The shot below was taken on a trek around Huaraz, north from Lima in the Andes, close to Chimbote. I was pretty high when I took this shot, around 4500m above sea level. Both shots were taken on my Noblex 612 film camera.
This afternoon, I went for a walk on the wilder side of Singapore. In the centre of the island, there is a slither of nature called MacRitchie Reservoir Park. Just south of Upper Pierce Reservoir, there is a tree top walk, which in effect is a narrow suspension bridge, just wide enough for someone to traverse across the rooftop of the jungle below.
Lining the side of the bridge were many monkeys. They were generally quite skittish but the character in the image above was more than a little bold. I had a wide angle lens on my camera, meaning he was sat within an arm’s length from me when I took this shot.
A few years ago, I went to the Dolomites, the Italian part of the Alps, to do some via ferrata and trekking. We had just descended form a glacier and were traversing along the mountain line, before dropping down into the valley below. Even though it was mid summer, there was still snow on the ground in places.
If I recall correctly, I think we were around 3000m altitude. We stayed in a large refugio a did day long treks. One key memory I have of this trip was that I did not know any of the group and spent much of the days lost in deep thought. Where better to have an euphony?
Back in 2003, after completing a 4 month stint as expedition photographer for Raleigh International in Coyhaique, capital of Region XI in Chile, a few colleagues decided that the best way to end the experience was be to trek Torres del Paine, situated at the southern tip of Chile.
Amongst this ensemble, only three of us were foolhardy enough to attempt the full loop and circumnavigate the entire range. It was April, the very end of the season and all the refugios were being closed down for Winter. Consequently, we had to carry all of our food with us for the multi-day trek ahead.
Temperatures varied from a comfortable 20 degrees Celsius during the day to a chilly minus 20 degrees Celsius at night. We restricted our gear as best we could but our packs stilled weight in at just under 35kg each.
The effort, however, was more than worth it, as we were constantly treated to such beautiful vistas as the one above, with not a soul for miles to break the tranquility. In the end, it took Tom, Bill and I just under 8 days to complete the trek. I eagerly hope to return and do it once again in the future.
All Terrain Photography 