Old Lady Entering a Shabby Alley

I like this picture as it has a sort of fraught drama attached to it, even though I am sure the old lady managed to pass through the alley perfectly safely. There is something ominous about the graffiti-covered walls, the narrowness of the alley and its uneven surface, but especially the dark figure at the other end –headng towards her (perhaps?) They will meet halfway, and there will be an exchange of something –a glance, perhaps a nod. At the moment however they look like two duellists in a faded western...

Location: Bucharest, Romania

Ramshackle Shed in Snow

A ramshackle farm-building in the Norwegian mountains -fog and snow -winter is just starting, soon all will be covered with white, but with just a sprinking of snow the decay of the building, thh cracks in the roof and the tumbled beams are somehow heightened. I also like the lonliness of the building.

Location: Valdres, Norway

Eros

Probably one of the most famous and recognizable statues around –Eros, in or on Piccadilly Circus, the hub of the world. I never saw it look more beautiful than on this occasion, siloutted against a magnificent late-afternoon sky. The light was so extraordinary and momentary that by the time I got nearer to take a closer picture the effect had gone.

Location: London, England

View From My Flat -Winter

Nothing special, just the view from my flat on a winter's day. Snow falling, the kind of weather that calls the coziness of staying indoors.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Doggie Underwear

This little pooch spends much of its day in a shop that sells women's clothes, and underwear in particular. And being a very curious dog he (or she) loves to watch people passing by from this silky spot -and what a great advertisement for the underwear!

Location: Norfolk, England

Winter Afternoon in Oslo

Chilly weather all over Europe, but snow brings beauty, especially when the sky takes on the hues of a water colour painting and creates a warming glow despite the cold. Such as here in the usually much busier Frogner park.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Simplicity

Sky, sea and the perfect lawn of a bowling green. Canopied benches along the promenade, a low fence and an even lower hedge. I love the simplicity and cleanliness of this picture –taken perhaps surprisingly not in summer but on a cold December afternoon on the Norfolk coast.

Location: Great Yarmouth, England

Tree With Attitude

I came across this tree in New Mexico and found it to have real personality.. it seems to be pleading to the mountains and sky, one armlike branch pointing to itself..look at me, listen to me! Maybe it was asking for some company in such a barren landscape.

Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico

Sun and Clouds Over Gibraltar

This is as close as I have gotten to Gibraltar –I took the picture from a boat between Spain and Morocco with a very old 110-film Kodak camera, way back in 1984 when I was travelling around Europe. I was struck by the magnificence of the sun and clouds and the majesty of the rock at the tip of Europe.

Location: Gibraltar

Polar Express

Until I hit Canada in the midst of ferocious winter conditions I hadn't really felt the cold, even in Scandinavia, the sides of this carriage seem to ooze iciness, with the reflection of icicles in the windows –fortunately all was warm and cozy inside!

Location: Montreal/Quebec, Canada

Railway Track

Tracks are always interesting to photograph –they simultaneously lead somewhere and come from somewhere –a metaphor for life itself. This track is in the Norfolk town where I grew up. It is no longer part of a regular rail network, but a private line maintained by enthusiasts. The building on the left was once a signalman's cottage.

Location: Dereham, England

Splash of Colour In London

A telephone box, the blue facade of a café, and green hoarding for Shrek at the Theatre Royal. A wet pavement, a waiter taking a cigarette-break. The effect reminded me of a 1990s music video, but mostly I just loved the combination of bright colours.

Location: London, England

Front of a Closed Shop

Abandoned buildings always fascinate me; they often continue to "talk", echoing stories of former days. I have no idea what was behind the windows of this closed shop in Poland, but I find the colours, ironwork and peeling paint bothe evocative and fascinating.

Location: Warsaw, Poland

Mountain Colours

The top of a (little) mountain in Norway in late autumn. The colours reminded me a bit of the film version of "Brigadoon" -which seemed deliberately artificial in their majesty. Well, now I know that such a wealth of colour does exist, when you climb and go "wandering through the heather on the hill..."

Location: Valdres, Norway

Le Chateau Frontenac

I just watched (again) Alfred Hitchcock's moody film "I Confess" from 1953, and realised just how much it had inspired my photography in Quebec earlier this year. The Chateau Fronteac features heavily in the film, and still looks exactly as it did in the film. Of course my photographs of it had to be in black and white too, and taken from obscure angles -my own homage to cinematographer Robert Burks.

Location: Quebec, Canada

Spanish Moss

Old Savannah, one of my favourite US cities -full of character, history and texture. The lazy trees, bedecked with Spanish moss are eerie by night, but provide welcome shade in the heat of day, as well as wonderful subjects for pictures.

Location: Savannah, Georgia

Jeans

Not really a story behind this one, just experimenting with my camera and finding lines and textures in everyday objects, like this pile of jeans -waves of them!

Riverside

I am always fascinated by old, seemingly deserted buildings. This one on the bank of the Thames in Hammersmith is interesting because of its curves and mellow and warm colours in the late afternoon sun. It also contrasts with the more formal building on the other side of the river in the background.

Location: London, England

Signs in American Shop Window

Notice boards and shop windows are fertile grounds for gems of the bizarre and out-of-the-ordinary kind. One wonders just how safe people may have felt when passing this particular window!

Location: New Orleans, USA

Links

I have been experimenting a bit with taking close-up pictures of small things that don't usually get much attention, but look great enlarged, like these cufflinks. Expect more like this as my roving eye seeks out other little things deserving more attention!

Peacock

There are few things more magnificent than the fabulous outfit of a peacock, feathers unfurled. I find it incredible and humbling that nature could produce something so beautiful, and was thrilled that this particular bird elected to show off for me.

Location: Bucharest, Romania

Another Glass Roof...or Ceiling?

One of Europe's most spectacular train stations is the Berlin Hauptbahnhof -an architectural wonder, not least because of the brilliant use of glass, creating a spacious, light interior and quite a classical overall look. Also rather good for pictures!

Location: Berlin, Germany

English Country Road

I love the total Englishness of this picture -the quiet country road and the eccentric placing of a telephone box, far from any form of civilisation and standing slightly askew. The bright red indeed contrasts with the green, but somehow the telephone box seems perfectly happy where it is -out of place, yet not out of place at the same time.

Location: Berkshire, England

A Day at the Musuem

The first time I saw the rebuilt inner courtyard of the British Musuem I just stood and stared in amazement. It was one of the most stunning interior spaces I had ever seen. The intricate glass ceiling is as beautiful as any of the objects on display, and informs the whole space, especially when the sun shines and creates a web of shadows on the pristine marble floors and stairs. I tried to capture some of the immensity and beauty in this picture, but this is only a small part of the whole.

Location: London, England.

Derelict Building

I have always found derelict buildings fascinating. Their stories are often somehow more tangible than buildings that are new or lived in. And surfaces, textures and crumbling features seem almost organic. This former apartment building unexpectedly has a sad beauty about it. I find the curved corners especially appealing.

Location: Warsaw, Poland

Those Autumn Leaves

Autumn in New England is always magnificent, and even in the cities. This tree on Boston Common seemed especially beautiful -delicate and somehow still full of life, with its few remaining, perfectly contrasting, leaves.

Location: Boston, USA

Autumn Vista

This photograph was taken in just about my favourite place in the whole world -the mountains of central Norway, and in the autumn when the colours become especially beautiful. Lakes, trees, sky and snow-topped mountains in the distance... and quiet, perfect quiet in the crisp air. Utter peace.

Location: Rundmellen, Valdres, Norway

Birds On A Wire

Just a simple photograph that I quite liked -the sun going down in Tennessee, birds resting or waiting on telephone wires, wondering perhaps where all the leaves have gone.

Location: Memphis, USA

People in Covent Garden

This is a very calm picture.The five main figures all appear to be in their own little world -waiting, resting, reading -each is somehow both alone and part of the whole. The portico of St. Paul's Church provide some shade from the sun and the bases of the columns a place to sit -as they have for several hundred years.

Location: London, England

Chic Loo

South Beach is rightly famous for its art deco hotel facades. But the style extends to such otherwise mundane features as public toilets, or restrooms- I liked the symmetry, broken by the tree and the bin, and of course the lighting.

Location: Miami Beach, USA

Keyboard Steps

So many people pass through London's Underground system that the steps need to be reinforced with metal treads so as not to wear away. But they give the impression of a stack of keyboards -or maybe it's just the way my eyes see them!

Location: London, England

Reflections

Late evening. After a rain shower. Red lights of barriers reflected in the pools of water and on the wet pavements. Horizontal and vertical lines. Some nice effects created by the combination of all these things.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Street Scene

Another monochrome photograph inspired by the Andreas Feininger portraits of Chicago in 1941. Taken many years later, of course.

Location: Chicago, USA

E.T. Cactus

I love cacti, but mine are pretty tiny compared to this one that I came across in California. In the evening sun it cast a shadow against the wall that looks rather like the head of a praying mantis ...or E.T.

Location: San Diego, USA

Fishing Boats and Nets on Kent Beach

Mid-morning on a Kent beach with the English channel in the background. The lobster-pots are piled up ready for the next day. I liked all the colours -painted boats, covers, pebbles, buoys- and always seem to smell the sea air when I look at this picture.

Location: Deal, England

Hungerford Bridge

Hungerford Bridge's marvellous walkway across the River Thames on a surprisingly warm autumn early-evening. Most people take pictures from the bridge, but I was just as fascinated by the lines of the supports against the sky.

Location: London, England

Mountain Pool

Autumn in the mountains. Blue sky reflected in a beautiful mountain pool, creating an almost bridge-like effect. Colours, light, air...total calm.

Location: Valdres, Norway

Family of Mailboxes

Street furniture always fascinates me –and in many ways epitomises a country's identity. The American mailbox is a unique icon -familiar, heartening and quite cute. And here in Georgia I found a whole family of them!

Location: Charleston, USA

Soho

Soho is a pretty tame place these days, but the alleys and streets are fertile ground for photography. Here it is surprisingly empty, so the textures of the buildings and alley are more in focus. And once again black and white seems to work best.

Location: London, England

Smoke

Smoke billowing from one of the chimneys of Le Château Frontenac. I liked the play of light and contrasts and it seemed to work particularly well in black and white. And if you've ever seen Hitchcock's film I Confess you'll perhaps recognise the nod to the master's work at this location!

Location: Quebec, Canada

Paperbacks on Display

Used paperbacks for sale at London's South Bank, and the late afternoon just bouncing off their well-worn colourful spines. Very simple, but somehow beautiful.

Location: London, England

Autumn in the Mountains

I just returned from a week hiking in the mountains of central Norway, and experienced all kinds of weather, often on the same day. But the rich autumn colours and fabulous effects of light made photographing a dream -the colours becoming more golden each day. This picture was one of the last I took before leaving, but it is one of my favourites.

Location: Valdres, Norway

Palace of the Winds

Hawa Mahal -an Indian palace built in 1799, though it looks so organic that it really seems to have grown rather than be constructed. Most guide-book pictures are taken squarely facing the magnificent facade, but I found it just as interesting to see a little what was behind. Truly a remarkable building.

Location:Jaipur, India

Norwegian Countryside

Norwegian countryside and a colourful farm building in the height of a summer that has seen as much rain as sunshine, hence the verdant fields. The sun just caught the side of the barn as I took this photograph, giving the picture an extra optimistic brightness.

Location: Valdres, Norway

Old Railway Shed

Many old buildings are ugly when new but come into their own with age and wear, like this large shed in a sleepy English railway yard. The colours are all mismatched, the paint is flaking in places, but somehow the building has a soul, and seemed quite majestical.

Location: Norfolk, England

Colourful Street Corner

A feast of colour in an American city, just yards from the border with Mexico. The Mexican influence is clear to see. When I took the photograph I didn't notice the pair of abandoned shoes by the curb -or are they two birds? Your guess is as good as mine.

Location: El Paso, Texas, USA.

Cloud and Fjord

Evening sun and clouds over Oslo's inner fjord. Usually the water is the most photogenic thing in such compositions, but here the clouds stretching into the horizon seem more dramatic and watery, while the fjord itself is a silvery blanket.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Grecian Urn

A glorious summer's day on the heights the sleepy Greek island of Meganisi, with the larger island of Lefkada in the distance, boats on the water and urns with plants atop a romantic terrace. A very peaceful picture, and comforting amidst all the rainy days of summer in Northern Europe this year.

Location: Spartochori, Meganisi, Greece

London By Night

London's West End on a dark night. Pubs and theatres beckon with bright lights, but the mysterious long-haired figure with the bag and an impossibly long coat strides through like a determined ghost. I was experimenting with black & white at the time and the slightly blurred focus seemed to work quite well in capturing the atmosphere of the moment.

Location: London, England

Franz Kafka's House

Franz Kafka's house in a timeless-looking street in Prague, and a young visitor debating whether to go in or not. I like his casual pose, the colours of the buildings and the variety of textures.

Location: Prague, Czech Republic