New Portfolio Site
My travel photography portfolio site had been looking a little bit dated, so I’ve gone ahead and updated the look of it and added a whole bunch of new content as well. Please have a visit and let me know what you think!
Gallery of Photos from Portugal
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit two of Portugal’s cities, Lisbon and Porto (with a side trip to the village of Sintra). I’ve now published a gallery of my photos from the trip and you can see them here.
Both cities are worth a visit with sites and culture abounding in each. I could have spent a day inside Lisbon’s wonderful monastery, or another just exploring the hilly streets below the castle. In Porto, when the sun shone, there might have been nothing better than to sit by the river and gaze up at that captivating bridge.
I would have hoped for better weather for my day trip to Sintra, but you can’t win them all. I had to content myself with indoor shots of that strange village’s eclectic sites. The fog when I got to the Palace of Pena made for rubbish photography: “Here’s a shot of a castle. No really, I promise, there’a castle in there somewhere!” I’ve spared you the flat white shots.
Instead, enjoy some of the sights Portugal’s cities have to offer.
Gallery of Copenhagen Photos
I know a lot of people have been pretending 2016 didn’t happen and that includes me. I just skipped that year. Forget about it. That means no blog posts were necessary.
But it’s a new year, so I’ll try to be at least somewhat more active here and to get that started, I’d like to present you with a batch of photos from Copenhagen. These images have languished unseen for too long on my hard drive, so have a look and enjoy. Click the photo below to see more.
Mount Machhapuchchhre from Tadapani
Photo of the Day
There’s little better than being able to wake up, walk outside and see a view like this. That’s just what you can do if you’re staying in Tadapani, Nepal whilst hiking the Ghorepani Loop.
Here, fellow lodgers at the local guesthouses have woken early to watch the first rays of the sunrise hit Mount Machhapuchchhre also know as Fish Tail for its distinctive double-summit shape.
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The View to Lhotse
Photo of the Day
There comes a point on the Everest trail when you find yourself incapable of properly watching your step because of the views. The mountains that were already towering above you somehow find a way to become ever more dramatic and iconic. Their permanently snowy peaks inspire awe and before too long, you have to stop not just because the altitude has made you breathless, but the view demands that you pause to appreciate it.
Here is one such view as Lhotse, the fourth tallest mountain in the world, rises behind a stupa built as a memorial to Tenzing Norgay above Namche Bazaar.
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On the way to Everest, Above the Clouds
Photo of the Day
It’s been almost a year since I visited Nepal. That’s far too long for me to have a cache of unshared photos from that wonderful country, so I’ll try to rectify that over the next little while.
The highlight of the trip was standing with the Himalayas towering overhead. For this photo, I woke before dawn and hiked up from Namche Bazaar to a lookout point where I could watch the clouds roll up from the valley below. About a minute after taking this photo, I was enveloped in grey and couldn’t see a thing.
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Photos in the 2016 Scottish Field Calendars
2016 approaches and you’re going to to need some way to remind yourself not to scribble the wrong date on your cheques (if you still write cheques). What better way to do it than with some lovely images from Scotland?
A few of my photos are featured in two of the Scottish Field Calendars for 2016 including my image of Dunvegan Castle on the cover of the mini version of the calendar. You can preview/buy the mini calendar here and the regular one here. Below, you’ll find the images they’ve used.
And there are plenty more of my images of Scotland here and here.
Jordan Gallery Posted
Another long-overdue collection of images is finally live on my site. Please take a moment to browse my photos of Jordan here.
Though a not insubstantial time has passed since my visit, the memories are as vivid as could be. Here’s just a quick sample: Hiking in Petra, hitchhiking with some random moustached man whose car interior was totally and completely wrapped in cling film and who smelled like candy, floating in the Dead Sea, leaping from ledges into sand dunes and racing down them like a kid, getting pelted in the back with a stone by some seven year old girl (wtf!), getting chased by camels, balancing precariously on giant natural arches, walking in Moses’ footsteps, exploring medieval castles and forts, having an ibex steal a potato from us, eating some pretty great food, listening to the haunting, synchronised call to prayer alone on a hilltop beneath a roman ruin in Amman, rescuing a donkey from a cliff, etc..
There are plenty more memories to be shared in photo form, so please visit the gallery.
Istanbul Gallery Posted
I’ve just posted a new gallery of images. These come from Istanbul, Turkey.
These photos are from my second time visiting the city. During my first trip there, a trip filled with wonderful chance encounters, spectacular sights, delicious food, and a distinct sense of magic, I knew I would go back. Just thinking about it makes me want to visit again.
Click here to see my gallery of photos from Istanbul.
Scots Magazine Cover
Readers of the Scots Magazine can see a big version of one of my photos of Scotland’s Rannoch Moor on the cover of the June issue available now.
And for anyone interested in seeing more of my pictures from one of my favourite countries to photograph, check out this gallery of images from Scotland. And here’s a second one if you can’t get enough!
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Riga Photos in Skylife Magazine
Anyone travelling on Turkish Airlines this month will see a few my photos from Riga printed in Skylife Magazine, the airline’s inflight magazine. And for those of us not fortunate to be travelling anywhere with them right now, there’s also the option of viewing the Riga notes article online.
And if you’re craving more images from that part of the world, hop on over to my gallery of photos from the Baltics or go even more in depth and check out the images from Riga in my archive.
As a bonus, here’s a shot of the House of Blackheads in Old Riga.
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Gallery of India Photos Posted
With this post, I would like to present you with a brand new gallery of photos, this time from India. Most of them come from Rajasthan whose oversized hill forts tower over bustling cities that overwhelm the senses. A few, like the one below, come from just outside the province, in or near Agra.
Click here to see the full gallery of photos of India.
Below is, of course, the Taj Mahal as viewed at sundown from across the Yamuna river.
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Second Gallery of Scotland Photos
My photos of Scotland are some of my most popular, so I saw that as an opportunity to visit that magical land again (and again) to get more photos to share with you. Here’s my second instalment of photos from Scotland.
And as a bonus, my original Scotland gallery has also received a few new additions. Enjoy!
Crovie, Scotland
Photo of the Day
The tiny village of Crovie was one of my favourite spots on my most recent visit to Scotland. This former fishing village has only one walkway that is too narrow for cars, so everyone has to park at one end of the town. But even given that fact, apparently Tesco will still deliver groceries there! I saw a couple of delivery people carting a load of food up to the last house in the village while I was there. It’s not recommended that visitors drive all the way down the steep slope to the village, so they did a good job to get there.
The quiet row of houses is a magical place.
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Dunnottar Castle
Photo of the Day
The sun rises behind Dunnottar Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
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Bow Fiddle Rock
Photo of the Day
The sun rises behind Bow Fiddle Rock off the north Coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
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The Banff Springs Hotel
Photo of the Day
Being only an hour’s drive away from my childhood hometown of Calgary, I’ve had the chance to visit Banff numerous times. On my most recent visit to Calgary, I stopped there briefly with my family and I asked them to stop at a place I had never actually visited: a little corner on the edge of town called Surprise View. There, a great view of the Banff Springs Hotel greets anyone with time enough to stop.
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Petra’s Street of Facades
Photo of the Day
Clouds were a rarity on my trip to Jordan. Most days, the sky was a swath of blue interrupted only by the blazing sun.
Today’s photo of the day shows one of the cloudier evenings I experienced there and still, it’s only wispy, thin clouds obstructing my view of the stars. They certainly didn’t prevent the moonlight from reaching the Street of Facades in Petra, a group of ancient tombs carved into the rocky hillside.
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Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque
Photo of the Day
Before dawn at Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque in the Kadirga neighbourhood of the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey.
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Istanbul Sunrise
Photo of the Day
I woke early one morning in Istanbul to check out the view from one of the city’s many terraces and I couldn’t have been greeted by a better sunrise. This particular panorama frames the sun with the Hagia Sophia on the left and the Blue Mosque on the right.
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The Basilica Cistern
Photo of the Day
Today’s image comes from one of the most memorable and enchanting places I know, the Basilica Cistern beneath the streets of Istanbul. This giant underground space formerly used to provide water to some of the palaces in the city.
Now, raised walkways allow visitors to walk amongst the 336 columns while keeping their feet dry in the mostly-drained cistern. Water dripping from the ceiling and quiet, haunting classical music help to set the mood in the dark forest of giant columns.
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Sunrise from Jabal Umm ad Dami
Photo of the Day
One of the highlights of my five-day stay in the desert of Wadi Rum was a morning ascent of Jabal Umm ad Dami, Jordan’s highest mountain. In pre-dawn darkness, my guide and I clambered over the rocky terrain to reach a ridge partway up the mountain where we stopped for some breakfast and waited for the sunrise. We were treated to the scene in today’s photo of the day.
My guide, Sallah, had a potato we had baked the night before in the embers of the fire and was going to heat it up for me, but I had already had enough food to keep me fuelled, so he left it on the rocks where we could pick it up on the way back down. After reaching the summit, admiring the views and starting back down, Sallah found some ibex tracks and was trying to see which way it went as we approached our breakfast spot. Much to his confusion, when we arrived, the potato was gone. There were no ibex tracks leading directly to the spot, but there no other markings and he couldn’t think of any other animal that could have taken it, so he concluded that an ibex stole our potato!
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Petra by Moonlight
Photo of the Day
I recently returned home from a trip to Jordan where I was dazzled by the region’s history and culture. Now that’s I’ve settled in after a busy week, I can finally share an image from my travels.
This is the Treasury of Petra by Moonlight. You might recognise this impressive structure from the third Indiana Jones movie. Disappointingly, it doesn’t actually house the holy grail, but the exterior is much more impressive in person than the movie can convey. A mile-long cobbled canyon (the Siq) ends in a narrow gap that then opens out into this dramatic view of one of the seven new wonders of the world.
This massive project is one of many carved structures dotting the area, but it’s one of the biggest, one of the most ornate, and thanks to that grand entrance, it’s one of the most impressive. I had been returning late from exploring the other tombs in the area and the moon had just started to light up the Treasury as I walked past. I was able to wait a little while until it was fully in the moonlight to capture the Treasury lit up with the stars in the sky. It was a joy to be there almost alone to see it in the dark.
Click to see a larger image:
Blue Mosque, Yellow Light
Photo of the Day
Yesterday, I arrived home from a week in Istanbul, Turkey. This was my second trip to this magical city and I was happy to have more than a couple days to see some of its history and culture.
I’m currently enjoying the comforts of home, but only for a few days. I soon head out to Jordan for two weeks where more spectacular sights await. After that, I should have plenty of photo processing to keep me busy.
In this photo, evening sun breaks through the clouds over the Blue Mosque, one of the city’s architectural wonders.
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Darby Sawchuk is a Canadian-born photographer who currently resides in Manchester, England. He has travelled to over 40 countries and is always adding more to the list. He creates stock for multiple agencies and is available for assignments.
+44 0790 992 8932
