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Vaccines to visas: How to prep for a trip to Africa

In three weeks I’m heading back to Africa – to Rwanda this time to photograph the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys in the country’s Volcano National Park. As I start prepping my gear for my next wildlife adventure, my thoughts wander back to my most recent three-month trip to Africa and the amount of time, work and effort it took me to prepare for that trip. I spent hours and hours googling, phoning and wandering the high street looking for the bits and pieces I’d need for my trip (and that’s not even counting the hours of research I did into my photography gear prior to leaving! –[…]

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All creatures great and small … a tribute

Before I head to Africa to photograph big mammals I think it’s only fitting I pay tribute to all the little creatures of Britain from the owls to the harvest mice, the foxes to the squirrels. I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to photograph a number of these sweet, sometimes funny and very British animals over the past year and here are my favourite shots (in no particular order). 

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Creative photography with a mobile phone

Creative photography doesn’t just have to be done on a DSLR. There are also plenty of ways to take great photos on your mobile phone and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the quality and the amazing apps on offer. In fact with a bit of imagination and creativity you can turn what might look like a mediocre image into a work of art. There are also plenty of competitions for mobile photography including the MBA awards which offer a generous $3k in prize money plus other goodies. I tend to use the Phototoaster app to sharpen, crop and add certain colour elements to my shots.[…]

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Cyclists raise more than £5k for Sepsis

We did it! Last weekend, the Dons of Oxford – a team of five cyclists (Christoph, Anika, Mark, Melissa and Estella) and a support crew (myself, my cousin Liz and her son Emeran in one van and Toby and his two dogs in the other) – travelled from Oxford to Wales to raise money for the UK Sepsis Trust. The cyclists rode more than 165 miles through driving rain, wind and sunshine, up and down hill, over dale, from town to town until they reached Cardiff on Sunday lunchtime. The highlight of the ride was when they crossed the Severn[…]

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Facebook reunites mum with family of war-time German nanny

So here’s a beautiful and moving story I want to share …. It’s not a travel story as such but it’s certainly a story that’s travelled a long way and over a very long time …. Several days ago a lady from Kiel Germany contacted me via Facebook to ask if I was the granddaughter of Wing Commander Edward Gordon Gedge and his wife Eileen – which I am. Her name was Dagmar and she said she was the daughter of my mum’s nanny from more than sixty years ago and had been searching for us. Her mum Cristel cared[…]

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Weeping over Oysters in Whitstable

Growing up in New Zealand, my British grandparents would regale me with stories about the quirky traditions and village pastimes of English people, including how they’d roll cheese downhill in the Cotswold, pay homage to chalk men with enormous appendages in Dorset, and bless oysters with holy water in Kent. Of course I would giggle at their stories, never sure whether they were telling the truth – I mean why would anyone chase cheese?!  – but I always secretly harboured a desire to find out for myself; to visit the UK and see whether there really were naked chalk giants in the hills and priests in white robes uttering[…]

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