Mannequin. A designy shot taken at the 2013 Laura Ashley exhibition at the splendid Bowes Museum, near Barnard Castle in County Durham. Not my normal type of subject matter, but I was in the area and visiting the Bowes Museum, and decided to wander in for a touch of nostalgia. I'm glad I did. The exhibition was celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Laura Ashley label, and showing the vision of the romantic heroine that she brought to fashion in the 1960s and '70s... I was pleased with my photo, though I should have taken out the line just visible in the background (maybe I will). But in competition the judge didn't like it, apparently unhappy about a body with no head. [posted 17 April 2014] / more »

Morning Walk. On my 2012 visit to Berlin, a day trip out to Park Sanssouci in nearby Potsdam was on my must-do list. And top of the list of must-get pictures was the head-on view of Schloss Sanssouci, built between 1747 and 1749 as a Summer retreat for Frederick the Great. After walking through the attractive old part of the town I entered the park by the Green Gate entrance and walked along an avenue of trees before turning right for the long straight view towards Schloss Sanssouci. Someone turned on the fountain as I approached at 09:00, and right on cue a lady in red with her dog appeared on the right of the frame. The Schloss faces due south and the strong sun was over my right shoulder – textbook stuff for landscape photography. [posted 18 June 2013] / more »

Step. Not in fact a step, but another image from the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, taken during my third visit in January 2013. The last time I was here the Memorial was in strong sunshine. Now, fresh snow lay on the tops of the stelae and in the walkways between them, with almost no footprints. The sky was dull and grey, and new snow was blowing in from the east. I've pushed the contrast a bit in Photoshop to give a little more bite to the image, and worked carefully with Levels to pull out some detail in the snow where the walkway shows through. [posted 10 March 2013] / more »

Polished. Taken at the local and very good annual Classic Car Show, where most of the cars on display are very lovingly cared for. Even so I spent quite a long time at 100% in Photoshop making sure there was not a speck of dust on the bit of car in my image. And cleaning out the traces of polish and other stuff from the edges of the chrome strip – the image really does need to be perfectly clean to give the liquid feel of serious waxing! A strong diagonal, obviously, and carefully positioned in shooting to run exactly from corner to corner. I think the car was a TVR. [posted 12 February 2013] / more »

Where Did You Get That Hat? As I waited in line with my timed ticket to see the fabulous interior of Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam – a day out on my 2012 visit to Berlin – a group of Japanese tourists was assembling in the courtyard. One of the ladies arrived late, and I couldn't help noticing her hat and long gloves. There was just time for one grab shot. I think the picture is made by the expression on the face of the man I assume is their German guide. I like that all the significant colours are, by chance, shades of green, apart from the man's jeans. There's more information about my visit to Sanssouci on my Grand Tour blog. [posted 28 November 2012] / more »

Reichstag People. There are interesting photo opportunities everywhere in the dome of the Berlin Reichstag – home of the Bundestag, the German parliament – which was designed by British architect Norman Foster and completed in 1999. The silhouette of the spiral walkway to the top, set against the ribs of the dome, provides dramatic shapes, and I decided to use this image in monochrome with only a hint of detail in the shadow areas. The walkway is always busy and it can take a while to find a good arrangement of people. There are some details of my 2012 visit to the Reichstag on my Grand Tour blog. [posted 28 October 2012] / more »

Where Can I Find a Bike Shop?. The Orangerie in Frederick the Great's fabulous Park Sanssouci in Potsdam – south-west of Berlin – was built between 1851 and 1864, and this is one of a number of allegorical statues standing in niches at the front of the building. The carving is exquisite. The sun was very strong and I was careful to avoid clipping the highlights on the light stonework. Nevertheless Adobe Camera Raw has allowed me to pull back the texture of the stone in the highlight areas, and to encourage a little more shadow detail in the wheel. Some tweaks to Levels and Gamma to get the balance of the background just right. [posted 27 September 2012] / more »

Tram Stop. Taken from the Hausmannstürme (watchman's tower) of the Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen, the very interesting church with four towers in the huge marketplace in Halle – birthplace of the great composer George Frederic Handel – not far from Leipzig in Germany. Halle had been one of the destinations on my Grand Tour in 2008, and I went back in 2011 for another look. Obviously a strong diagonal composition in the picture, and I like the almost complementary colours of the red tram and the cyan-blue glass shelters, set against a neutral background. I must confess to a fair amount of cleaning up of litter and gum on the cobbles – unusual for Germany – which is time consuming. [posted 9 March 2012] / more »

Dream Office. A shot grabbed in one of the Bauhaus Masters' Houses in Dessau, Germany. Dessau was something of a design pilgrimage for me on my 2011 return visit to the region between Leipzig and Berlin. In the Masters' Houses I had to work quickly to record some of what was there as well as trying to take a few arty pictures. I had already decided to fit the superb Nikon 12-24mm before entering the house, and I liked the strong perspective introduced in this sparse Bauhaus office by getting in close at the 12mm end – the focal length is equivalent to 18mm on 35mm film. I heightened the effect by adding a strong radial blur and pushing the colour saturation... [posted 15 February 2012] / more »

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin. Officially called the 'Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe', this 'field of stelae' – by American architect Peter Eisenman – is set on an undulating site 100 metres south of the Brandenburg Gate in the centre of Berlin. It opened in 2005 after a long and often controversial planning and building process. The 2,711 concrete blocks (stelae) are arranged in a regular grid over an area of nearly five acres. The arrangement appears uniform, but each block is at a slight angle to its neighbour creating a feeling of uncertainty. Walking among the tall blocks at the centre felt disorientating ... I wanted to photograph the memorial without the certainty and comfort and busyness of the modern world around it, so most of my images taken over nearly an hour used a long lens to exclude surrounding streets... [posted 19 January 2012] / more »