Way back in December 2022 / January 2023 I visited Poland (Gdansk, Poznan and Warsaw) over New Year's. It was a great trip and nice to catch up with an old friend who lives in Poznan. The highlight from a travel point of view though was Warsaw - a city flattened during the Second World War, but rebuilt and alive with interest both in the Old Town and across the river in Praga. I could have chosen a few shots to represent this tip, but my favourite is undoubtedly the light reflecting off the textures of the roof of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Full gallery of images from this trip is here.
The main trip last year was a month in Ecuador and Colombia, and it was quite a trip. Ecuador I did alone, which at times was a shock to the system but on other occasions made the experience visceral and immersive. The first photo was taken on just such a day, circumnavigating the Laguna de Cuicocha outside of Otavalo. Another such day came in Barichara, a beautiful pueblo in northern Colombia that is well worth the time and effort to get to. The final two images are from Cartagena, a characterful, distinctive if rough around the edges city on the Caribbean Coast. The first has been cropped from its original in the gallery here, but I think I prefer it this way. The last image is a personal favourite, and I think it works well in black and white.
As always, living in Sheffield has provided plentiful opportunities for photograph. The first image was shot on a day with mist and frost and the enjoyable walk from Grindleford to Baslow was transformed into a winter wonderland. The third and fourth are highlights from my switch from Nikon to Fuji - after a mammoth 16 years I've swapped a Nikon DSLR for a Fuji Mirrorless camera, specifically the X-S20 with (currently) 15-45mm and 35mm f2 lenses (although I plan to add to these in the future). Sheffield Botanical Gardens is part of my daily commute and Chatsworth House is a local spot nearby. I love the handling and the colours of the Fuji, but that's for another post.
Finally the second photo clearly isn't from Sheffield. I went on two school trips in September/October, the first to northern France and Belgium for the battlefields trip, based out of Ypres, and the second to Pompeii on a classics trip.
As usual I'm not including my winter trip in this 2023 review - that will be to Prague, Vienna and Budapest in a week, when I plan to put the X-S20 through its paces. Then I've got a week in Trieste, Ljubljana and Zagreb in February before two weeks in northern Spain in the summer. It doesn't look like I'll leave Europe this year but plenty of opportunities for street photography which is something I'm keen to get into.