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Bath time for linnets!
I came across a small flock of Common Linnets (Carduelis cannabina) having a bath in a small stream flowing onto the beach at Fornos, near the town of Cariño, in Galicia, Spain (1). Linnets (Pardillo in Spanish) are quite common in Spain, and flocks can be seen throughout the year along both sides of the…
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Pick up a polariser!
Polarising filters are easy to screw onto a lens, and if used with care, add a whole new dimension to your photography. In particular they darken blue skies and alter the tone and translucency of water as well. I fitted a 77mm polarising filter onto the front of my two favourite Nikon lenses (17-55mm f2.8…
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Breathless beauty
I visited Lauca National Park in northern Chile, in April 2007. I had a Sony DSC-R1 camera in those days, and I only took Jpegs. I went back over the photographs I took recently – taking the time to edit a few in Adobe Photoshop – and was surprised to find that I could improve…
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Thai classical dance

I love watching Thai dances, the delicate hand and leg movements and the beautiful music. Not to mention the grace and beauty of the dancers themselves! There are many different types of dance in Thailand, all sorts of regional dances with different styles and meanings. For example, sword dances were inspired by types of combat that…
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Simply red in photos!

Including a small area of red can sometimes do wonders for a photograph! With this in the back of my mind, I am always alert to something red appearing in my image finder! Whether it works or not, probably depends on a lot of other factors, like what else is in the photograph! But there…
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An Old Bridge

The Ponte Vecchio, or ‘Old Bridge’, is a mediaeval bridge across the River Arno in Florence. The existing bridge dates from 1345, although there were bridges at this location as far back as Roman times. It is of course, one of the most famous sights in the world, and huge numbers of tourists from around…
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An unexpected treasure

I stumbled across this gorgeous painting, almost by chance in Florence. I popped into this church – Santa Trinita – on a whim to have a quick look around. I noticed that the people inside were congregating around one painting in a small chapel (Sassetti Chapel) to the right of the altar. The main painting…
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Hand-made pasta in Florence
This girl was making pasta in the window of a restaurant in Florence. I took a grab-shot and then made eye-contact afterwards. She smiled and waved and did not seem to mind. I noticed that a number of restaurants in the city had people making pasta in front of a window onto the street; I…