I was delighted to see that this year's Lonely Planet e-mail Christmas Card uses one of my photos. It was such a long-held ambition of mine to have photos with Lonely Planet that to see one of my pictures being used in this way is... well, it's just peachy.

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you, my regular readers, lurkers, friends and family, a very merry Christmas and my sincere hope that 2008 will bring you all that you would wish for yourself.

Cheers!

Tags: lonely planet, christmas

The winners of the 2007 Travel Photographer of the Year competition have been announced at Cat Vinton is the lucky winner of a £2,500 Bursary and an opportunity to photograph the Dalai Lama. Looking at Cat's winning images, I'm sure she'll do justice to the opportunity and I really look forward to seeing her pictures in the future.

There were entries from 51 countries this year so it must have been a tough competition to judge. Looking through the winners, the standard looks as high as ever and I enjoy seeing so many different styles of travel photography represented.

The "One Place, Many Lives" category is the one that deals with travel portraiture and you'll see a certain UK photographer by the name of Gavin Gough among the finalists. I'm chuffed to bits to be associated with such great images and, although I'm not a winner this year, am delighted to have got so far.

It's no exaggeration for me to say that looking at Tim Allen's and Larry Louie's winning images gives me goose-bumps. Tim's use of colour and his composition is so impressive and Larry's monochrome images have the most delicious light. Gary Wornell's images from Finland are really bold and I'm pleased to see the judges pulling out images like that for recognition. Personally, I think it's good to see a variety of styles.

Finally, Jean-Calude Louis' portraits have bags of character - these are the images probably closest to mine in terms of style, although I wish I'd taken any of his four portfolio images. I love the one of the two kids at the window especially.

If I ever remember what images I submitted (honestly, my memory is shocking) then I'll post them here.

In the mean time, I guess I'd better start thinking of my entries for 2008!

Travel Photographer of the Year 2007 winners
One Place, Many Lives Category

Tags: photography, tpoty

I saw Crowded House in concert at Bournemouth last night.

There are, in my experience, few things more uplifting than seeing your favourite band on stage. Fewer still, the number of things more uplifting than hearing music that's become so much a part of your life being performed so expertly, so enthusiastically and with such great heart. Read more...

Tags: crowded house, gigs

I'm pleased to say that I'm amongst those travel photographers featured in the Travel Photographer of the Year Showcase.

Tags: tpoty, photography

I'm dust-spotting today. Looking at images magnified to 100% on my computer monitor and painstakingly removing any of the tiny spots of dust that sometimes appear on digital camera sensors. It's a pretty laborious and repetitive job and strong coffee and loud music is required to keep me conscious.

But I've taken a break from that to bring you this image of a statue in Budapest. It sits high above the city on Gellert Hill and forms part of Hungary's Independence Monument. The statue was originally created as a tribute to Russian solders who liberated Budapest in 1945 but the Cyrillic inscriptions have since been removed and the statues have been re-dedicated as a monument to Hungary's more recent independence.

It's a tremendously striking sculpture (pun fully intended). I've climbed the steps of the monument to get this elevated perspective that also includes a glimpse of the rooftops of the Pest side of Budapest, across the river Danube. However, when you first approach the statue you are beneath it, which really emphasises its power and aggression. It's quite intimidating to stand beneath it. There's great power in that raised fist and arm of course but the elegance of the shape is what really attracts my eye. If you squint your eyes quite tightly so that the shape becomes just a silhouette you can see the curved shape of the leg and arm, it looks like an oblique 'S'.

But I know that what you're really asking is "Are there any dust spots in the image, Gav?". I'm pleased to be able to answer "No, not one".

Tags: photography, budapest

Some of my work can now be seen at the Saatchi Online Gallery.

Tags: photography, saatchi