Three on the Sand at Foz do Lizandro
Foz do Lizandro is one of those beaches where the Atlantic doesn’t let you forget it’s the Atlantic. Even on a bright spring day, the surf comes in heavy and the water is properly cold. I caught this little scene from up the beach: mum framing the wave on her phone, dad watching, holding a…
A Siamang and Her Little Passenger
The siamang barely moved while I framed the shot. Two long arms hooked around the timber, and then a bundle of jet-black fur with two enormous eyes peering up. I’d wandered over to Fota’s gibbon island half-expecting the usual whooping chorus, but instead caught this quieter scene: mum holding her ground in a patch of…
The Patient Watchers of Fota Wildlife Park
Two herons, two very different moods. The first one had clambered up into the bare branches like it owned the place, scruffy chest plumes blowing about and that sharp yellow eye scanning the park below. The second was posing in profile on the netting above one of the enclosures, side-lit by late sun that caught…
Silk and Stone: A Long Exposure at Santa Cruz
I scrambled out onto the rocks at Santa Cruz in Portugal taking photos of various views and then climbed up to a rock platform where I was greeted with this view in front of me. I had an ND filter, but no proper tripod, only a small “plate tripod” that just about did its job…
Paul Young and Jamie Moses, eyes closed and lost in it
I had a fifth-row seat for Paul Young at St. Luke’s last night. It was sold out, so it was worth getting in early for the “From No Parlez to The Secret Of Association” tour. The clue was in the billing: this was pitched as intimate conversation plus acoustic versions, not a greatest-hits run-through. Judging…
Above the Clouds, Below the Dawn
Window seats earn their keep on flights like this one. We were somewhere north of Lisbon, climbing north towards Ireland, when the sun decided to put on a show off the right-hand side of the aircraft. The horizon went from a deep, almost bruised red, up through that signature aviation orange, and finally settled into…
The Diego Effect at Bantry Market
You can tell a dog has just walked past by the geometry of the smiles. Two heads turning at the same angle, the kid in the patterned fleece still oblivious, a smoothie stall behind them advertising Mango Mix and Berry Bliss like it’s any other Friday. Diego is a small chihuahua and entirely unaware that…
Pop Art and Pocket Screens
Daniel Buren’s wall at Tottenham Court Road does most of the work for you. It’s fifty feet of saturated circles and diamonds, all bouncing off those merciless black-and-white stripes. I just had to wait. Two strangers soon obliged: he slumped against a blue diamond mid-text, and she tucked into a green circle taking what looked…
Flamenco Frills on a Valencian Pavement
Valencia in late October had just been rinsed by a quick shower, and the pavement was still glossy when this little party walked past me. The two women had gone all-in on the traje de flamenca. The ruffles stacked like waves, fresh blooms pinned into their hair, and a peach-coloured shawl folded neatly over one…
A Quiet Evening in Kinsale
Even on a calm evening when I took this photo, a moored boat moves about if given enough time. This long exposure shows the slight movements that show the water isn’t quite as still. There’s no wind to speak of, the surface looks like polished slate, and yet the boat is nodding away to itself,…
Eye of the Bison
I didn’t know there were bison at Fota Wildlife Park, but near the end of my walk there with Henry we stopped at a field containing these large beasts! I wonder if they were overheating in their winter coats in the warm April sunshine, but I suspect the cold wind that blew through at intervals…
Hen-do detour through Gerrard Street
I caught these two coming out of the crush on Gerrard Street, London, last summer. The blonde in the GANNI tee looks like she’s mid-anecdote; her friend, in a white off-shoulder dress with a tiny veil pinned over a leopard headband, has the slightly stunned grin of someone three hours into a hen weekend and…












