Four days in the beautiful Tatra Mountains in Slovakia with Tatra Photography.  After a 2 and a bit hour flight into Krakow Poland, a two hour transfer sees you across the border into Slovakia and into a very comfortable Pension Biela Voda in the village of Velka Lomnica, situated between Poprad and Kezmarok.   This was a Lee Filters workshop and we were taken to some stunning locations to try out this technique, under the expert guidance of Mark Bauer of Mark Bauer Photography.  Highly recommended.

Finland in winter- one of the prettiest places on earth and the only place on earth where it is Christmas all year round!  Flight from Gatwick to Kittila, then a four hour transfer up to Sariselka. There are 3 main resorts and Sariselka was smaller and less populated and it felt like we had it to ourselves.  We opted to stay in a log cabin and was not disappointed, it was very well appointed even with a sauna in the bathroom and log burner in the living room!   The trip was provided by Lapland Holidays and included a Husky Farm & Super Safari, Sami Reindeer Farm & Safari, Snowmobile Safari and a spectacular night in a Glass Igloo – fantastic!  On the last night, we were treated to a spectacular aurora show.  Highly recommended!

Travelling Hotel

This was indeed a very special trip as it co-incided with a huge solar flare, giving spectacular views of the Northern Lights.  Accommodation was also special – a Travelling Hotel, which was basically a customised artic, but meant that changing positions to be in the best place for the auroras was possible.  To cap it all, this was my first attempt at photographing a solar eclipse, which I did standing on the ice beach at Jokulsarlon.

report coming soon!

I have just been awarded a Silver in the International Pano Awards. It’s the first time I have attemtped a panorama, so was very chuffed!   This image was achieved by stitching 3 images together.

Apenheul is situated an hour’s train ride from Amsterdam and is the biggest and best primate park in Europe. Yes it is a ‘zoo’, but the enclosures are huge and beautifully landscaped to mimic the animals’ habitat in the wild. Gorillas, bonobos and orangutans all had babies and the tiny primates like squirrel monkeys are allowed to roam free around the park. This was my second visit and it wont be the last, as its a truly magical place. There’s not many places in the world you can get so close to these great apes. All the images from Apenheul are in   the Primate gallery.

On route to the orcas

Fabulous trip with Naturetrek to see Orcas and Northern Lights (if you are exceptionally lucky). Well luck was certainly on my side, as after four cloudy nights,the weather pattern suddenly cleared and the best light show on earth started. Unbelievably moving!

The orcas were also very visible and came very near to the boat, but it was a bit choppy and that made it hard to hold the camera still. Thermal suits were provided and my thanks goes to Charles Kinsey, who took this rather fetching picture of me in my blue thermal suit.

Just got back from the amazing island of Madagascar. What a privilege watching the beautiful dancing lemurs; mothers with babies clinging to their backs, gracefully jumping from tree to tree. Rainbow coloured chameleons and huge spiders also featured heavily. This is a wonderful country with wonderful friendly people. Andy did a sterling job making sure we were all in the right positions to get the best shots, even if it meant lying on the ground in the middle of an ants nest, camera looking up a lemur’s backside, waiting for it to hang down in just the right angle. Well done Andy, great adventure, great trip and great images!

Just returned from lovely Bavaria in Germany, after 3 days photographing the wildlife there. It was evident that snow had fallen hard and it was stacked up to 3 feet in some places. Lucky for us as brown bears in snow was what I wanted to capture. The trip is run by Chris Weston (link to his website on the LINKS page)and the accommodation is a charming Pension/hotel, just minutes from the park. Although the animals are wild, they are used to the presence of humans and so go about their daily business in front of you.