Welcome to the March 2026 newsletter. It’s been 9 months since I last had a moment to sit down and write about my travels and the photography work that goes along with it.
I’ve been meaning to sit down and write this for a while now, but simply have not been getting the time due to both the travel plus falling behind with my editing.
Since June last year, I’ve been to several places, including some new countries, so let’s take a look at some of what I’ve been doing.
I’m going to start this newsletter with an image from 2025.
In May last year, I ran my annual Tuscany photography tour. It had been a sold-out success and, despite some shenanigans with the rental van, everyone had a great time, which was borne out in some of the reviews that I received.
But it was the morning of May 15 that struck gold. The beautiful mist that sat across the Val d’Orcia, looking across to the iconic Il Belvedere farmhouse.
Having stood there several times, I had never managed to actually see it with a decent amount of mist plus a beautiful sunrise. Previous attempts were OK, but the light was either flat or there was thick fog covering the landscape.
But this was the morning when everything was right. Where the planets and stars aligned to give us “that” image which everyone searches for.
Not long after it was taken, I entered the panorama I took into the Epson Pano Awards. I was sure that it would do well in the competition, but it fell short of a bronze award. In fact, an image that I severely cropped ended up scoring higher, which was disappointing.
Not one to rest on my laurels, I entered it into the International Garden Photographer of the Year. Hoping that it might be second time lucky.
Late last year, I had an email asking for a high-resolution file as it had been shortlisted for an award. But I didn’t find out until February this year what it had done.
The result was that it had been selected as a finalist in the Breathing Spaces category. Proof that if you don’t succeed, then try, try again.
It seems that some of my summer months are taken up with reconnaissance work in Japan. I do this so that I can keep the Japan photo tour in the autumn fresh. I want people to be able to get to places that others don’t.
When visiting Japan, it’s easy to follow the so-called Golden Route, which starts in Tokyo and then winds its way along the southern coast towards Kyoto and finally into Osaka.
Now, my fall photo tour of Japan does somewhat follow this route; however, once it gets to the Fuji Five Lakes area, it deviates northwards, taking in more of the Japanese countryside.
There’s another reason for this change of direction. As I am frequently running photo tours in Japan, I don’t want to see the same old same old year after year. It’s too easy to do this and then become jaded. So, I seek out alternatives to freshen things up.
So, having done some reconnaissance work in Tokyo and around Mount Fuji, I deviated north to Matsumoto to get a quick look at the castle that sits in the town, then down to Nakatsugawa in the Kiso Valley.
Spending three nights based in the Kiso Valley allowed some exploration before the clients’ arrival in November. It allowed me time to scout out some places off the tourist trail, along with finding places to eat.
Leaving behind the beautiful Valley and its Edo Period post towns then saw me drive north to Takayama. I ended up here as the driver from my first full tour of Japan suggested this would be a great place to go, as it was full of history and beautiful places to visit.
Mai wasn’t wrong. Takayama is nestled in Gifu Prefecture and offers a variety of things to do for any discerning photographer. Sure, there are some nice old streets, shrines and temples, but venture out of the city, and you can find mountain scenes, castles and waterfalls.
This is just what I needed, as in November 2024, some of the clients told me they thought we had visited too many temples during the tour, so I wanted to break things up a little.
Next stop was Katsuyama. A small town east of Fukui, it offers verdant Japanese countryside along with beautiful scenery, a few castles dotted around the place, plus Seidaiji Temple and its walls of Buddhas.
OK, so there’s a temple again, but this is absolutely worth a visit. The temple walls are lined with Buddhas, and it’s a truly spectacular sight to see. And if you find a willing model, you can give scale to the temple.
Just down the road from the temple is the Katsuyama Castle Museum. Considered to be the tallest castle in Japan, it’s actually a new building, having been completed in 1992.
The shot I got of the castle wasn’t anything that would win an award somewhere, but that’s not the point of the visit. My thing was that I wanted to find a vantage point from which to capture it under a decent sunset.
Heading south to Kyoto, I came across a beautiful temple in the northeastern part of the city.
Founded in 784, Sanzen-In temple is set in beautiful gardens with its small Warabe-jizo statues amongst the moss, plus a red bridge over a waterfall.
Now, in July, it’s green as can be, but I have to think forward to what it could be like in autumn with the shimmering colours of fall.
What was nice to see around the temple was that there was very little in terms of footfall. Granted, it wasn’t high season in terms of hydrangeas or autumn, but it indicated that when it came time to revisit at the end of the year, hopefully, it wouldn’t be inundated like other places around Kyoto.
Next stop was Osaka. Japan’s second-largest city holds a special place in my heart. It was the first city I had visited when I started going to Japan back in November 2018.
One thing that I had in mind to do in the city was to find a decent high-angle view of the city, along with revisiting the Shinsekai district with the centrepiece of the Tsutenkaku tower.
The former took a little work. I had come across an image of Osaka on one of the social media channels and worked hard to find out where it was.
Eventually, I managed to track down where exactly the view was and made contact with the property owners to see if they would let me go up and check it out.
To my delight, they agreed to let me see it at sunset and to top it off, they also have a restaurant there! This was important as I wanted to finish the Japan photo tour on a high, quite literally, where people could capture the cityscape in front of them, then retire to their table to have a farewell dinner, along with enjoying the city lights as day grew into night.
But back in Shinsekai, I was shocked to see the level of footfall that had taken hold since the first time I had visited here in November 2018.
If I look back on those images from 8 years ago, it’s evident just how much the overtourism that has taken hold in some parts of Japan is affecting certain places.
Was it impossible to get an image? No. It just took a longer exposure to somewhat blur the people out, as there were inevitable pockets of people standing around doing all manner of poses for their social media accounts.
Having left behind Osaka, I drove back to Tokyo. If you ever plan on doing that, plan a WHOLE day to do this. If you were to drive without stopping from central Osaka to Narita Airport, then you’re looking at a journey time of nearly 8 hours.
Although the road system in Japan is excellent, it’s still an exhausting journey, especially if you’re the only person who is driving.
Back in Tokyo, I stayed around the Akihabara district of the city. I wanted to do this as I hadn’t spent a huge amount of time exploring the area and wanted to see what I could find.
As well as taking in some of the so-called Electric City, I wanted to bridge a gap in my arsenal of lenses that I routinely carry around with me. What was it? For several months, I was without a wide-angle zoom as I had sold my Canon EF 16-35mm Mark III earlier in the year when I was in the UK.
So, taking advantage of having the vast number of camera shops around me, I headed out to find the Canon 15-35mm RF f2.8, as being in Japan also meant that I could take advantage of picking it up tax-free.
One place that I wanted to check out was the Akihabara Radio Centre. This small shopping centre sells all manner of electronic parts and has started to become a little, let’s say, Instafamous due to some of the tiny shops that the sellers run, selling parts.
There was also a lady in here selling books. The tiny shop that she runs sees her sitting amongst the shelves, waiting for passers-by to pick up something of interest.
One other thing I wanted to do was capture some light trails around Shibuya. With its high-rise buildings and intricate road systems interweaving around the city, all I needed to do was find a decent vantage point in which to set up my tripod before capturing the twilight hour when the neon signs start to shine.
So, having spent the best part of three weeks working my way around Japan, finding new spots and making new contacts, I felt that the Japan autumn photo tour was now ready to be run with a much wider variety of subjects.
For a while, I’ve been wanting to go to Western Kazakhstan. I had been repeatedly seeing images of an area called Mangystau. And from what I was seeing, it was just out of this world, plus it seemed that not so many people seemed to go there.
Having met a travel agent from Almaty back at the beginning of the year, we set about trying to work out some kind of itinerary whereby I could get to see this alien landscape.
The only time that truly fit with my travel plans was late August. This wasn’t necessarily the best time to visit, but it would at least give me an idea as to what was involved in trying to be out there.
So, what is involved? Well, you’re not going to be staying in hotels when you’re actually out there. The only time you have those creature comforts is at the beginning and end of the tour. Outside of that, you need to camp.
A lot of the stunning places that you see from Mangystau are far away from civilisation. Probably 100km is my best guess for some of these places. You are quite literally in the middle of nowhere.
What you’re looking at when you get out there is the remains of the Tethys Ocean, which was formed over 60 million years ago. Where did it go? It dried up around 5 million years ago when the continents started splitting apart to form the world we know today.
One of the most striking places to visit is the Kyzylkup Tract, or Tiramisu mountains. Once you get there, it’s not difficult to see why they are named as such due to the colourful layers of rock that form this unique landscape.
From what I’ve been able to gather, the colours that are woven into the rocks are from iron reacting to the surrounding environment.
Outside of this, if you go walking onto the “mountains”, you’ll find it’s almost like walking on your mattress. It’s definitely an experience to be had.
The last place I visited out west was Bozzhyra Gorge. This was, in fact, my original inspiration to visit. I had seen images of this place that were just breathtaking, so I had to get there.
Two nights in two locations were spent out there, discovering just what could be done. Again, this vast alien landscape is another part of the Tethys Ocean. My driver would, at times, show me fossils that he had found. They were everywhere!
I wanted to do some more discovery of Mangystau, but circumstances had me cut my trip short, and so I headed back to Almaty for a few days to mull over what I was to do with this beautiful area of Kazakhstan.
What am I going to do? I need to go back again, but around late April or May, when the weather is cooler. In late August, the temperatures get to around 40°c and with just a tent to keep you out of the sun, it can be quite an experience dealing with that.
My first visit to Mongolia came in September 2018. A three-week excursion around the vast emptiness saw me get a feel for the country before going back for a second look in March 2019, when I went to the Nauryz eagle festival in the Altai.
During the pandemic, I did countless Zoom talks to a variety of camera clubs in 6 different countries on the subject of the Kazakh eagle hunters. Those talks led me down many rabbit holes as I started to unpick the true nature of eagle hunting in western Mongolia.
The media would have you believe that there are around 300 or so hunters still actively keeping the tradition alive. But the true number, from what I saw in my research, was more like 80 or 90.
So, the thing is, how do you know you’re looking at a genuine hunter and not some kind of showman? One good indication will be the fox pelts inside the house or the ger of the hunter that you happen to be staying with. That should be a good indication that they are going out in the harsh winter with their golden eagle to hunt for the steppe fox.
Ask questions through your guide and research the fascinating culture of the hunters. It’s not easy to find, but it is out there. Don’t rely on what you see in the Eagle Huntress film, as that has been tweaked for Western audiences.
Eagle hunting has been passed down through the generations, and the hunters are actually Kazakh. So don’t think that to start learning the Mongolian language to converse with your host, as you’ll end up not being able to speak, since they speak a different language.
You’ll find that a lot of people living in western Mongolia have their roots in Kazakhstan, and they have Mongolian passports along with a Kazakh ID card.
Directly after my Vietnam photo tour, I flew up to Seoul, then onwards to Mongolia. Arriving in Ulaanbaatar, it was evident that in the intervening 7 years since I was last in the country, the city was developing at a rapid pace. New apartment buildings were springing up, as well as more and more shops.
The group and I were to stay in the fabulous Blue Sky Hotel for two nights. The five-star hotel fronts directly onto the main Sukbaatar Square and gives us easy access to walking around the city centre.
On the first full day, we had the usual walking tour that my ground agent organises. This is done so that you get acquainted with the city, as well as providing a little history of the capital of Mongolia.
One of the highlights of the tour is the Gandantegchinlen Buddhist Monastery. Inside is one of the world’s tallest interior statues.
I asked my guide, Tuya, if we could go up to the first-floor level to get a better perspective on this stunning piece of Buddhist art.
After a little negotiation, we were granted permission to climb up the old staircase so that we had a very different perspective on it than from ground level.
Getting special permission, such as that, is always a treat for guests, as they can get images that regular tour groups just wouldn’t get. So, it’s always worth asking.
A few years ago, I had seen images taken from up on the balcony, so I knew that if the right person was asked, it would indeed be possible to get up there.
On 30 September, it was time to get up VERY early and head back to the airport. An interior flight to Hovd was in order, along with a long drive to Olgii, where we were going to be staying with our first golden eagle hunter.
For two nights, we were out in the wilderness. Our aged hunter kept his eagle outside and was happy to help us get images once we were settled down in his ger.
Now, it’s worth saying that once you get to this point on the Mongolia photo tour, all notions of creature comforts will have been left far behind in Ulaanbaatar. That nice shower you had in the morning is a distant memory, and now it’s time to experience the harsh reality of what it’s like living with the hunters.
Anyway, I digress. Our amazing guide, Aida, had come prepared with a large black cloth. We set it up inside the hunter’s ger just by the door. I did this because I like to work with natural light for my travel portraiture, and if you get the angles right, then you can get beautiful shadows illuminating your subject.
As well as our resident eagle hunter, he had invited a friend of his who was also a hunter. It was easy to see that the two of them together were friends, as they were extremely comfortable in each other’s company.
After our two-night stay was over, we headed over to another Kazakh Golden Eagle hunter. Luckily for us, he had a more modern house, which had heating in it. It certainly helped, as our previous host had relied on the small stove in his ger to heat the space he lived in. And believe me, once that fire went out, you knew what it was like living life out there.
During our stay with Bekbolat, I asked Aida if she could find a hunter that I had photographed back in 2019.
At the Naruyz eagle festival, I had photographed a hunter whose face I had always loved. He had a particular look about him which made for striking images, and I was particularly keen to see if he could be tracked down.
To my delight, Aida, along with our local fixer, had managed to find him. To see him ride up on his horse with his eagle in tow was, for me, a true delight as I had long wanted to spend time photographing him.
We spent the best part of two hours photographing not only him but our host and his son, who was also a golden eagle hunter. As well as photographing them outside, we set up portrait sessions inside to cover all bases.
If nothing else had happened on the Mongolia photo tour, then I would have been happy.
The 4th and 5th of October 2025 were dedicated to the annual Golden Eagle Festival. I had some trepidation about the festival as my ground agent had told me that it had become quite crowded.
As it turned out, it wasn’t so crowded that images couldn’t be taken. There was some jostling required, but nothing that would spoil the enjoyment of the spectacle taking place.
For two days, we shot many images of the various games taking place, along with some formal portrait shots of the hunters in their finest clothes. The thing that made the latter easier was that my ground agent set up a private ger, which means that we had a space to ourselves.
The second day, it snowed, and there was a hard wind blasting its way across the steppe. Having that private ger was extremely useful as it gave shelter from the storm when it got too cold to stay outside. Believe me, it can get VERY cold when that wind whistles across the steppe.
The 6th of October saw us make a long drive past the Altai Mountains bordering Russia. Mile upon mile of steppe was empty and bereft of civilisation. We had been warned that we might not be able to make the journey due to snow en route. It’s worth noting that when you make that drive, there is, essentially, no asphalt road, and you’re driving on well-worn tracks to get to your destination.
To be alone out there and barely a soul for miles around was exhilarating. You sit wondering to yourself just how many photographers have been up that way and seen those mountains. It wasn’t exactly an area on any tourist route, that’s for sure.
The last full day in Mongolia saw us take a trip out to the huge statue of Genghis Khan, or as the Mongolian’s call him, Chinghis Khan.
The 40-metre-tall statue of the once great leader sits on the edge of Gorkhi Terelj National Park and is an easy day trip from Ulaanbaatar.
Having been here twice before, I had only ever taken images of the statue from the outside. I hadn’t ever taken the opportunity to visit and go up inside it. So now was the time to do so, as I wouldn’t get another opportunity for a year or so.
It took a little waiting, but in the end, I managed to get a shot without people using my Canon RF 15-35mm f2.8, looking dead centre at the man himself from the head of his horse.
And so, it was back to UB and then on to Italy, where I was to be running two sold-out Dolomites photo tours.
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