Gallery: seeing waterfalls in black and white Is there anyone who isn’t awed by a waterfall? Whether it’s the sheer power of the water tumbling over the edge a one of the world’s great falls such as Victoria or Iguazu, or whether it’s the delicate lace and spray of a stream tumbling over rocks,…

Gallery: the power of three As a general rule, a group of three in a picture is particularly pleasing to the eye and can hold the attention of the viewer for longer than a group of even numbers. This is true of any odd number but especially so of three.

Gallery: an April selection (2026) While May has been green this year, we haven’t always had spring-like weather; quite the contrary! Some days have felt as chilly as a mild day in winter, while towards the end of the month we had a heatwave that would have felt fairly extreme even in August, with…

Gallery: seeing Hull in black and white Hull has had something of a poor reputation in England in recent years, but that seems to be changing. A city voted the ‘worst place to live in the UK’ in 2005 became the country’s City of Culture in 2017 and last year its city centre was named one of the…

Visiting Dambulla cave temple Dambulla Cave Temple consists of five caves carved into a massive rock. Each cave contains Buddha statues and is decorated with intricate murals and frescoes. In total, the temple houses over 150 Buddha statues and statues of Sri Lankan kings, Hindu gods, and guardian…

Gallery: small is beautiful Sometimes it's easy to forget that 'small is beautiful'. Also, how much of that beauty can be found very close to home. There may be a whole wide world out there, but that world begins as soon as we step out of our own back (or front) door.

A postcard from Hull: welcome to Hullywood While significant parts of Hull were bombed during WWII, and many lives tragically lost, its Old Town survived and has been well preserved. The historic buildings and cobbled streets make it an ideal stand-in for Victorian or Georgian London. These…

A postcard from Hull: welcome to Hollywood While significant parts of Hull were bombed during WWII, and many lives tragically lost, its Old Town survived and has been well preserved. The historic buildings and cobbled streets make it an ideal stand-in for Victorian or Georgian London. These…

A postcard from Liverpool: Another Place On Crosby beach north of Liverpool 100 cast-iron, life-size figures stand looking out to sea. The figures each weigh 650 kilos and are made from casts of the artist Anthony Gormley’s own body.

Gallery: customise your three-wheeler! These simple, practical vehicles are ubiquitous in Sri Lanka, as they are in many other countries in the world. While tourists tend to refer to them as tuk-tuks, to the locals they are usually known as three-wheelers or simply three-wheels.

Gallery: seeing Sri Lanka in black and white Sri Lanka is such a colourful country that it seems counterintuitive to photograph it in black and white. But I’m always up for a photographic challenge! Plus, I enjoy editing from colour into monochrome, experimenting to see what different effects and…

Ritigala, the monastery in the forest Legend has it that all vegetation on the mountain of Ritigala in central Sri Lanka is protected by guardian spirits known as Yakkhas. These are the guardian spirits of the mountain, said to have helped Prince (later King) Pandukhabaya fulfil a prophecy by…

Gallery: photographing texture A photograph is a two-dimensional artefact, whether digital or printed. Yet its apparently flat surface can reveal three-dimensional textures, especially when we get the lighting right. Texture is most clearly seen when hit by lighting at an angle, bringing out areas…

Gallery: seeing sport in black and white I’ve never been particularly good at sports, and I’m too competitive to enjoy the feeling of losing … or even coming second! But I do like to watch others excel at them. It’s exciting not to know what will happen next, and to cheer on a favourite individual…

Gallery: emptying into white There is something ethereal and fascinating about images that lack the colours that we normally relate to the spectrum. Do we even always think of white as a colour, or do we consider it a lack of colour? Get it right and white images can be easily as striking as more…

Gallery: from a train window Here are five memorable train journeys from my travels. I'm not really interested in the trains themselves. Trainspotting definitely isn't my thing. But the experiences you have on board, especially if you get the opportunity to chat with local people, and the views of…

Gallery: an April selection (2026) We have had plenty of sunny days this past April; however quite often the warm sun was tempered by a fresh wind. But we have also had some almost summer-like days; indeed, on one day quite early in the month the temperature reached 26 degrees in London and that…

Some more sights around Jaffna If Sri Lanka is tear-shaped, Jaffna can be said to lie at the upper point of that tear, just as it starts to fall from the eye. Appropriate perhaps for a region that has seen more than its share of conflict. This northern region was for many years the stronghold of…

A postcard from Budapest: the lions on the Chain Bridge The four stone lions that guard the entrances to the Chain Bridge in Budapest are very like the bronze ones in London's Trafalgar Square. There are several legends attached to them. One legend tells that they are the guardians of Hungary and…

Colours and sights of Jaffna For many years the northern region of Sri Lanka was the stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, usually abbreviated to LTTE and better known as the Tamil Tigers. But when the civil war hostilities ceased in 2009 visiting the region again became a…

Gallery: it begins with a P (Monochrome Madness) Today I am focusing on just one letter, P. Why P, you ask? I had no Particular Purpose in choosing it for this week’s Monochrome Madness challenge to be honest. I Possibly Perceived it as a fairly challenging letter to express through a Photographic…

Bringing history to life I was never captivated by history at school. Maybe it was the dull manner in which it was taught. Maybe I was unlucky with the teachers I had, unable to bring the past to life. Or maybe it was the focus on kings and queens, generals and politicians, rather than the lives…

Gallery: the flowers of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka’s national flower is the blue waterlily. We saw these beautiful flowers everywhere, not just growing in lakes but also as offerings in Buddhist shrines in particular. This flower is considered a symbol of truth, purity and discipline.

Three shrines, three religions, one country On the north coast of Sri Lanka, near Jaffna and not far from the island’s northernmost point, we visited three very different shrines in close proximity to each other. Together, for me, they illustrated the diversity of religious belief in a country…

Gallery: when luck plays its part We can plan our shots as carefully as we might, but luck plays its part too. There are always factors we cannot control, from people to weather to wildlife.

Gallery: monochrome minimalism Everything captured within our photos should be there for a reason. What we leave out is as important as what we include, but we also need to be sure that our subject is clear and that our photo says something about that subject.

Along the Regents Canal The Regents Canal links the Grand Union Canal in Paddington with the Thames in east London, via the Limehouse Basin. It is 8.6 miles (13.8 kilometres) long and like most canals has a towpath. These towpaths were originally used by horses to pull barges but today are popular…

Gallery: composing for depth Once we learn some composition techniques, we no longer need to ‘rehearse’ them in our minds before taking a photo; they become instinctive. But whether you study and follow the ‘rules’ of composition, or prefer to take a more relaxed approach to photography, there’s…

Gallery: a March selection (2026) In England we have this saying about the weather in March and years ago most of us would have recognised it as pretty accurate. But these days the weather is much less predictable it seems. This year March came in like a lamb, turned lion-like, then back to lamb…

Just a few sights in Anuradhapura Anuradhapura was Sri Lanka’s first capital, founded in the 4th century BCE by King Pandukabhaya. It is considered the first city in the country to have embraced Buddhism. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to massive ancient stupas, vast archaeological…

Gallery: Souq Waqif at night In the past there were two options. Carry a camera if you were actively out taking photos or leave it at home and risk missing a serendipitous shot. These days we don’t have to choose. We can leave our heavy camera gear at home and still grab those unexpected moments…

The beasts of Wilpattu I wasn’t always happy about the way animals are treated in Sri Lanka (we were taken to one elephant facility that I felt was well below the standards I have seen elsewhere). But you can’t fault their extensive national parks system and the habitats they provide for wildlife.

Gallery: up on the roof I hope these images of animate and inanimate subjects found on rooftops around the world, from cats to crosses, demonstrate that it is always worth looking up while carrying a camera. You never know what you might see!

Gallery: imagining colours We all know the colours of the rainbow and our imaginations can supply them even when photographed in black and white. The colours of many other photographic subjects are equally recognisable too. But when we strip out those colours and leave our imagination to fill them…

Gallery: birds in a land of lakes Wilpattu National Park is one of the largest and oldest national parks in Sri Lanka. Its name is derived from the Sinhala words ‘Willu-pattu’, meaning ‘land of lakes’. The landscape is a mix of dense jungle, open grassy plains and the sand-rimmed water basins that…

Bird-watching walk at the Mudhouse When our tour company, Selective Asia, suggested we might like a stay at the unique Mudhouse in western Sri Lanka we were in two minds. Would we love the ‘back to nature’ vibe or would we find sleeping in the semi-open with few ‘mod cons’ too much of a challenge?…

Gallery: sitting on the dock of the bay How often in this busy world do we take the time to just sit? Sitting to enjoy a view, to take a pause from all the activity that fills our days, to simply relax? And if we do, are we 'wasting time' or are we using it wisely to recharge our batteries?

Gallery: seeing walls in black and white Whoever said 'We build too many walls and not enough bridges', and when, sadly it seems very apposite to our times. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if right now we were building more bridges than walls? And yet, the world is full of walls, and we have…

Exploring Doha’s Katara Cultural Village Katara Cultural Village was constructed on reclaimed land along Doha's coastline as a centre for culture and the arts. It takes its name from the original one for this region, Catara, the first record of which appears in Ptolemy’s Geography, written c. 150…

Gallery: journeys that shaped me Setting out on a journey you may think you know where you are going and therefore what to expect. But there are always surprises in even the most well-prepared trip, and it is often the surprises that prove the most memorable experiences. It’s a healthy reminder to…

Gallery: a museum shaped like a rose The ‘petals’ of a desert rose are formed from crystals which create a circular array of flat plates, in a shape reminiscent of a rose blossom. The design of the National Museum of Qatar. was inspired by these crystals.

Gallery: seeing Doha in black and white There is a temptation while travelling to take only those ‘souvenir’ photos, and it’s one I often fall into. It’s all too easy simply to point the camera at them and press the shutter while considering only the basics of composition. At the same time I do…

A day in Doha What do you do if you love to visit far-flung locations but are fed up with long haul flights and nights spent trying to sleep on a plane? You could splurge on business class to make your night more comfortable. But no amount of splurging will help with jet-lag, and however…

Gallery: a February selection (2026) I often feel the need to seek adventures abroad, especially in the tail-end of winter. So for most of February I have been in Sri Lanka, enjoying a mix of wildlife, culture and a bit of relaxation. This therefore will be a rather different monthly round-up from…

Gallery: using juxtaposition for effect Juxtaposition is often referred to as a literary device, placing two concepts close together to highlight their differences. But it is just as effective in visual arts, including photography. And these contrasting elements hopefully work together to elicit a…

A postcard from Sri Lanka: Land Monitor Lizards I’ve spotted the impressive Land Monitor Lizards, the largest of Sri Lanka’s lizards, all over the country. In the national parks, in the gardens around Sigirya's Lion Rock and even in the busy streets of Galle Fort.

A postcard from Sri Lanka: Jaffna’s clock tower and statues of Tamil kings Jaffna's clock tower was built to commemorate the visit of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales to Ceylon in 1875. In 2013 three golden statues of Tamil kings were added to enhance the surrounding area.

A postcard from Sri Lanka: an Oriental Garden Lizard The Oriental Garden Lizard is common throughout much of Sri Lanka. This is a male in his bright breeding colours.

A postcard from Sri Lanka: Unity in Diversity Sakkotai Cape, located near the town of Point Pedro in the Jaffna District, is recognised as the northernmost point of Sri Lanka. A short jetty marks the exact spot with a sign bearing the national flag.

Gallery: a January selection (2026) The days in January may be short, and the sun in short supply. In England we’ve had more than our fair share of rain this month, or so it seemed. But there were also some brighter, if colder, days. And at the start of the month even some snow (relatively rare…