Gilgit

I've been sorting through old slides and came across these photos from Gilgit in northern Pakistan, which I took in the early 90s.
At this time it was pretty safe to travel throughout Pakistan and our first trip was from Lahore to the Afgan border town of Peshwar. It was about as exotic a place as I'd ever been, with gun markets and women completely covered in indigo cotton; their faces hidden behind cloth grills.
Gilgit was exotic in a different way. It's seclusion and calm at the time was a welcome break from the crowds and intensity of the cities. Up here you're in the very beginnings of the foothills of the Himalayas. These purples and blues of early evening remind me so much of beauty of this place, so very diferent from the intense mountain light of the New Zealand alps.

from a train

I never get tired of the train trip from Montpellier to Paris. Last month it was especially picturesque, as for most of the journey the countryside was covered in snow.

Neue Nationalgalerie

I've recently had a slide film developed that had been in my camera for over 6 months! So I spent last night scanning slides - including lots of old ones from years ago. I found these shots I took of details from Mies van der Rohe's New National Gallery in Berlin.
They're not brilliant shots but they remind me old how much i loved the building & how much I'd like to go back and have another go at photographing it.

d.i.y

Last weeeknd we went to visit a friend of ours who is doing up his flat.
It was a good opportunity for some d.i.y photography!

Sommières

Sommières is a typical Languedoc town about 20 mins from Montpellier on the back road to Nîmes. It has a medieval centre, a river running through it, a town square lined with these trees you find everywhere in France, a chocolaterie and an old school café.
It was charming except for the fact it was minus -2 degrees and I was gloveless.

Happy weekend everyone!

bbc

I'm currently obsessed with this from the bbc. I've never been a history fan particularly but 'the history of the world in 100 objects' is just so well done.

So I spent last night listening to podcasts while it poured with rain outside. A rare thing occurance for here. True to form though, this morning it's sunny & bright out.

la poste

After 2 years in France, I'm almost used to posting letters in yellow post boxes.
For me letter boxes really should be red!

Some more Côte d'Azur winter light from last week.

beaulieu sur mer dans l'hiver

Some images from a walk along the méd at Beaulieu sur Mer last week.
The winter light of the Côte d'Azur that afternoon was stunning.
At Beaulieu you can follow a paved footpath along the coast. It's like this along much of the Côte d'Azur. A perfect place to walk with the sound of the sea, adding background sound to the music playing on my ipod.

This time I followed someones wet footprints along the path. It was intriguing as it wasn't nearly warm enough to have been swimming!

RIBA

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) at 66 Portland Place, London is a 1930s listed building designed by the architect George Grey Wornum.
I used to spend one day a week working here in the architectural library helping sort through boxes of old photographs from the collection. I remember looking forward each week to seeing which photographer I'd get to archive. The library has an extensive photographic collection, a selection of which can be purchased online. Have a look, as it's a fantastic resource to browse through.

I recently met a friend here for lunch and altough we were a bit disappointed with the food, we relished the atmosphere surrounded by chattering architects, in the architectural elegance of the 1930s restaurant.