I was there too
La Mariblanca, a statue in a large square in Madrid, marks the geographic centre of Spain.
This is what it looked like in 2017, but the area around it has been developed since then and now there’s more places to stop and sit.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/800s |
Two friends chatting on a street in Istanbul.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A man walks through Jemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakesh with a monkey on a chain, looking for tourists who will have their photo taken with his companion.
We humans don’t treat animals well.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 179mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
A couple sitting at an outdoor table in a little café in Athens, Greece about a year ago. Their body language couldn’t be more different, and every time I look at this image, I wonder what they were talking about.
Their roles in this conversation are opposed. He appears relaxed and confident, while she is reserved, nervous, maybe defensive?
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The interior of St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh on a bright, sunny day in July, 2018. I visited again recently but these are from my first visit.
I visited the cathedral with the aim to photograph it, but I forgot to bring my tripod! It was sitting in my suitcase in my hotel room. I did my best, using tables and benches and the floor instead to hold my camera steady.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/30s |
More than a decade ago, I spent some time in Santa Cruz along with the rest of Automattic for the Grand Meetup that year. I’ve already posted a few sunrise photos on the beach, but these photos of surfers riding the waves have been in my TODO folder for a long time.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 105mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/2000s |
We were wandering up the Royal Mile in Edinburgh when I spotted these two women looking up. At what, I’m not sure, there wasn’t anything special in the building they were looking at. Is there such a thing as “Edinburgh Neck”?
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/640s |
It was a blisteringly hot day in Athens when we were walking around the ruins of the old city when I saw this woman in a bright yellow jumpsuit approach.
That yellow colour jumped out at me, but it was only later I noticed the man behind her carrying her bag. Is that a charging cable going from her phone to the bag? Nice to have someone else carry your bag on a hot day, with a battery for your phone too! 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Another tourist watches for a moment before taking her own photo with her phone, inside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Non Muslims are restricted in where they can go now because it was turned back into a mosque again in 2020.
This was on the morning after I spent the day in bed recovering from food poisoning, so I didn’t take a whole lot of photos and had to go back to bed afterwards as I was so tired from the walk. This page has a number of photos showing what it’s like. Definitely try to avoid the busy times. It’s thronged with visitors.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 10000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/60s |
A beautiful sunset pictured from our apartment in Edinburgh a few weeks ago. The weather was glorious that week! It hardly rained at all!
Did you know that the Forth Bridge, visible just left of centre, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the world’s longest cantilever railway bridge when it opened in 1890? It’s still a marvel of Victorian engineering that stands proud on the Scottish skyline.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 172mm |
| ISO | 250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
Off Monastiraki Square, Athens, along a narrow street filled with small shops, I found a man leaning on the door of his shoe shop.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A woman inspects a set of playable junior bagpipes that her husband bought in a nearby tourist store near Edinburgh Castle, Scotland.
She smiles, but I’m not sure if she’s happy. 😉
Did you know, the bagpipes, often considered Scotland’s national instrument, actually have ancient origins that trace back to the Middle East before finding their iconic home in the Highlands?
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
