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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #11: First Light
Tafraout, Morocco, 2016. I have to admit that this one is more my favourite than Michaela’s: I love it not just for itself, but also for what it represents. Out on the edge of the desert, the nights were cold, our breath clearly visible in the crisp morning air as we took breakfast. Within a few short hours the temperature had rocketed and the days were so hot. As we rose early one morning and braced ourselves against the cold, the first light of the day crept down from the tops of the mountains, sunshine creeping down the slopes towards the town…
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #10: Quiet Streets
Marrakech, Morocco, 2015 and Bratislava, Slovakia, 2014. Sometimes in the busiest and most manic of cities, it’s possible to turn a corner and suddenly find yourself in a little enclave of peace. It’s hard to accentuate this in a photograph – unless you’re lucky enough for one single person to wander into the quiet alley at just the right moment. That single figure somehow conveys peace more eloquently than a wholly empty street can….
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #9: Snowy Scene
Konnu, Estonia, 2015. During a city break in the Estonian capital Tallinn, we enjoyed a trip out of town for a snow-shoe hike in the forests around the small town of Konnu. This was the site where the legendary “forest brothers” departed the cities and survived in the frozen wastes for years while resisting the advances of the Soviet Red Army. Michaela was enthralled by the long shadows cast by the winter trees and sought to capture the effect in one shot: this is one of those shots.
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs: #7 Fishing Grounds
Puerto Escondido, Mexico 2018. There has to be at least one wildlife shot in a collection such as this. Each of the seven beaches of Puerto Escondido has a character all of its own, ranging from gentle family friendly waters to the giant rollers of the Mexican Pipeline surfing beaches. The pelicans, perhaps counter intuitively, gather on the town beach closest to civilisation – but then, this is also where the fishermen are, fish must be at their most plentiful right here. This shot combining the majesty of a big bird with the power of the waves perfectly captures part of the essence of the town beach.
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs: #4 Mountain Peace
Valbona, Albania, 2016. As we approached Valbona along the winding road which hugged the banks of the fast flowing river, the mountain scenery becoming more and more dramatic, we knew we were arriving somewhere special. This remote village, feeling a long way from anywhere, nestles in breathtaking beauty in the shadow of the wonderfully named Accursed Mountains. Michaela wanted to capture both the beauty and the remoteness in one shot. This is that shot.
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs: #3 Island Sunset
Klong Nin, Koh Lanta, Thailand, 2020. Of all the many wonderful sunsets we’ve witnessed across the world, the island of Koh Lanta produced probably the best. Michaela has not enhanced the colour on this photo in the slightest, this is unedited – it really was this colourful. As we sat on the sands watching the sky move through its amazing palette, Michaela captured this stunning moment.
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs: #2 The Seaweed Farmer
Paje, Zanzibar, 2013. Between the coast and the reef, in the gentle milky waters of the Indian Ocean, ladies farm seaweed, sitting in the water for hours on end before trudging, like this lady, back to shore with their haul. Michaela perfectly captured the loneliness of their working day with this beautiful shot.
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs: #1 The Lost Tomato
Marrakech, 2015. This one was a stroke of luck, Michaela had no idea that she had caught this tomato in mid-flight until we looked at the photo much later. It was intended to be a shot of the contrasting types of transport ahead of us as we drove back to the airport – only to capture the moment when one solitary tomato made its bid for freedom.
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Photography Meets Art
Michaela’s mother, Norma, lives in the county of Suffolk, time honoured home to many of the great English painters. Norma is a highly talented artist in her own right, as you can see from this painting, one of a number she has created from our travel photographs. This particular one is probably my favourite photo of Michaela, taken in her natural habitat: a bar. On this occasion, a bar in Molfetta, Italy. To view more of Norma’s great work, you can visit… Photography by Michaela, www.normareadartist.com or Instagram@normareadartist
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Photographic Memories #9
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With no current prospect of travel even domestically let alone worldwide, we will have no new adventures to blog, but we do have many such memories….. Photo #9: The Lost Tomato Look closely at this photograph and you will spot that Michaela caught the precise moment that a tomato fell from its stacked trailer, and in the moment of the shot it is suspended in mid air just above the ground. Of course, you can’t capture shots like this intentionally, only by coincidence of timing. The original aim of the photo was…
