Category: travel

  • Hotel Convento do Salvador | travel, design and photography

    Life has changed. But change is always good.

    I no longer get to spontaneously jump on a plane to wherever I feel like, but I still get that fuzzy feeling when a chance to travel somewhere new comes along.  Lisbon was one of those places I hadn’t got round to seeing yet, but I knew it was on my list. Travel, design and photography are some of my favourite things, especially when they all come together. So, after only a year of planning, myself and two great friends made our escape on British Airways for a Portuguese adventure.

    Hotel Convento do Salvador , located in the beautiful and historical neighbourhood of Alfama, was recommended to us by a friend who had stayed there previously. It is a former convent which is now run as a non-profit organisation to support cultural activities for local children. The design is very clean and modern, with artwork from some of Portugal’s finest artists on display throughout.

    It was a perfect place to stay for our weekend in Lisbon. The staff were very friendly and helpful, the rooms were very comfortable and clean and the food was great. The central courtyard was so beautifully designed, I think I could have quite happily sat there for the whole weekend.

    Of course, we were far too busy wandering slowly along the narrow streets, and having fun everywhere we went, to see all that Lisbon has to offer: a weekend is NOT enough for me.

    So I will definitely be returning next year, I need some more change in my life!

  • My dream of Hungarian lanterns | contemporary travel photography | Budapest, Hungary

    I love snow.

    Much more than I love sun. In fact, the colder the better. It makes everywhere look ethereal and pure, burying life’s excesses beneath it. The world is a more beautiful place when it’s covered in snow. But that’s just my opinion.
    Another thing I love is the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen. I’ve listened to it for most of my adult life and still can’t get enough. The depth and rhythm of his lyrics is unique, and he can capture the soul of a place or the emotion of a moment in a few short verses. Ever since I first listened to ‘Take this Waltz’, I have had a picture of this Austro-Hungarian world on the banks of the Danube in my mind’s eye, in all it’s breathtaking romance. It was somewhere I had always dreamed of visiting one day, so when a significant birthday (ahem) loomed, a weekend in Budapest seemed like a perfect idea.
    Trying to see everything in a couple of days would have been a little over-ambitious, so aside from a few must-dos (eat, drink, bathe), the best option was to just walk. Everywhere.
    As soon as I stepped outside, the snow begun to fall. Lightly at first, but soon the cloud thickened and it came down straight and steady for the day. It was soft though, and it seemed to enjoy conspiring with the city to create an epic snowscape, worthy of such an alluring place.

  • China girl – personal film photography

    China girl – personal film photography

    A long time ago (14 years to be precise), I lived in China.

    After the initial culture shock, I quickly fell in love with this fascinating, diverse country and its lovely people. I lived in the northeastern city of Harbin, famous for its Ice and Snow Festival, where temperatures plummet to -30c in winter, but this just adds to the beauty and mystique of the place.

    I recently rediscovered some of the images I shot during that period, and it has made me very nostalgic about the whole experience. The friends I made, the food I ate, the music I listened to, the daily language struggles and the beauty all around me.

    I will always dream of that place.