A selection of images from the Masai Mara in Kenya. I’m not a wildlife photographer but after a magical few days, I can see the appeal. The Masai Mara is quite extraordinary and I could have happily stayed a lot longer.
It was quite extraordinary to see the animals at such close quarters and with a glorious sunrise each morning and an even more impressive sunset every evening, it seemed almost like another world.
…and then there are days where even the rain can’t dampen your enthusiasm for a plan. Those days where an idea has thundered down the hillside towards you and you’ve had the presence of mind to reach out for it and the tenacity to grip it tightly enough to claim it before it continues down the hill in search of somebody more receptive.
Such days, in my experience, frequently include one or more of the following: the company of a treasured friend, a few contemplative moments of quiet reflection, introductions to new friends who quietly and unknowingly offer inspiration, a glimpse of something the colour of which defies comparison, the sight of a landscape bathed in light so golden that it literally makes you gasp and – in my case – the unexpected appearance of a solitary rainbow-coloured umbrella.
Today brought all of these and more.
Which was nice.
I’m in Umbria, enjoying the best hospitality and soaking up the landscape (and the occasional glass of vino rosso in the name of research), making plans for a new type of workshop. I’m moving away from the traditional photographic workshop towards something that I hope will prove to be of interest to creative souls working in any medium. I hope to announce the dates, itinerary, content and prices for a “Creativity Workshop”, currently scheduled for the first week in September. More details will follow in the coming weeks but if you are interested in joining me and some of my most inspiring friends in the rolling hills of northern Italy then make a note in your diary and drop me an e-mail asking to be put at the top of the invitation list.
In the meantime, here are three images found on a short stroll through Castiglione-del-Lago this morning, in-between coffee, meetings, lunch, coffee, site visits, research, more coffee, dinner and wine. It’s a tough life 
So, there was a little bit of a storm in Bangkok this evening.
I was working late when the storm arrived overhead but was soon setting up a camera on each of the west-facing and north-facing balconies in my apartment. Such was the storm’s ferocity that the window panes shook and thunder cracked the air like gunshots. At this time of year, I keep a camera mounted on a tripod with a cable-release attached in readiness for storms, which can pass as quickly as they arrive.
The lightning strikes came with such a frequency, fracturing the clouds and followed by echoing thunder, that each of my thirty-second exposures captured a bolt of energy searing the Bangkok night sky.
