It was a clear sky night in Sydney yesterday, and with the early sun set of winter, plenty of time to set up for a star trail shot from the top deck.

Nikon D4, 16mm fisheye, f5.6, ISO 100
70 shots at 2 min exposure merged in CS6

Home again but only for a few days. Next week we fly to Tahiti to join the boat and spend the southern winter in the South Pacific, something we are both really looking forward to. The plan is to spend roughly a month each in Tahiti, Tonga and Fiji, diving with sharks, whales and whatever else we can find. It’s been far too long since I was in the water.

Fuji x100s, 1/160, f4, ISO 400

Le Meridien Hotel in Budapest is situated in a perfect spot to wander the city and take night shots. The weather is perfect and the sky is clear, so we headed to the Great Synagogue, which is not easy to shoot as there are tram lines in the sky in front of it and trees hanging everywhere. I ended up in the middle of the street chatting to an interested copper while I took my bracketed shots. In fact I took this one as a two part vertorama in order to fit in the building from my precarious position. Tomorrow Parliament House….

Olympus OMD, 12mm, f13, ISO 200
Ten shots from 1.3 secs to 20 secs exposure blended in Photomatix Pro and Autopano Pro

Another in the blue light series, this was taken at around 9pm tonight, forty five minutes after sun set. It is the Chain Bridge over the Danube River in the centre of Budapest.

Olympus OMD, 12mm, f13, ISO 200
Five shots from 1/2sec to 8 secs exposure blended in HDR Efex Pro 2

Up early again and after a quick flight to Hungary we were at Ildi’s Mum’s eating chicken schnitzel by 1:30pm. It is spring, or early summer here and all the flowers are out. There are fields of poppies near the house, something I haven’t seen since I was a boy, and garden beds of pansies creating a riot of colour.

Fuji x100s, 1/125, f5.6, ISO 500
JPG straight out of the camera set to replicate Velvia film in camera. The jpegs from this camera really are quite outstanding.

4:30 am the alarm went and I was deeply asleep. I got up anyway and threw on some clothes. I had to get the receptionist to unlock the front door to the hotel and walked up to the Blue Mosque as the call for prayers started. There was no one around at all except a pack of street dogs play fighting on the wet grass. They came running up to me as soon as I started to set up the tripod, but only wanted to play. One of them lay at my feet and rested his head on my shoes while I worked but then they saw someone hurrying to get to early morning prayers and ran off to bark at him.

Olympus OMD, 12mm, f11, ISO 200
Five shots from 30secs to 4 secs exposure blended in Photomatix Pro

Flying Etihad to Istanbul we had the best meal I have every had on a plane. John Dory three ways and a mixed grill arabic style. Just superb food.

Fuji x100s, 1/125, f2, ISO 800

We got a clear night last night and after a sunset walk on the dunes, which was quite exhausting, I managed to grab a star trail shot over the hotel.

Olympus OMD, Panasonic 7-14mm at 7mm, f5.6, Thirty x 2min, ISO 200
Thirty 2 minute shots blended in CS6

Olympus OMD, 12-50mm at 12mm, 1/500, f9, ISO 200

We have always wanted to spend a few nights in the desert so instead of roughing it in a tent, I booked a weekend (that’s a Friday/Saturday over here) in a three bedroom villa in the Anantara run Qasr Al Sarab. It is right in the middle of the empty quarter, about two hours drive from the main city of Abu Dhabi. I was hoping for a couple of clear night skies, but last night there was a strong wind blowing that clouded out the sky and completely hid the sun set. Not to worry, the resort itself is stunningly beautiful and the service is superb, as only the Arab world can provide. Coming from Asia it is hard to top the service standards in Singapore or Thailand, but the Arab world just takes it to another level. ‘As you wish’ really does mean that.

It is certainly strange to look out of the bedroom window and to see a vista of sand dunes instead of the ocean.

Olympus OMD, 12mm, 1/320, f8, ISO 200
Seven shot panorama stitched in CS6

For a photographer this is such a great place to wander. Light and shadows are everywhere.

Fuji x100s, 1/18, f2, ISO 6400

Olympus OMD, 12-50mm at 19mm, 1/6, f7.1, ISO 400
The internal stabilisation in the OMD is so good. This is hand held at 1/6 sec.

We are visiting Kylie, Greg and the kids for a couple of weeks. It’s great to spend some time with them as we will be away in the South Pacific for most of the northern summer. Kylie and I are shooting the photos and video for a promotional web site for Bella’s swim school, and one of the sequences we decided to use was the sun rising on the ‘coin building’, the remarkable head office of Aldar, a building company in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is really an architectural photographers dream. There are so many incredible buildings, many that couldn’t be built anywhere else, as they are often very much form over function.

Olympus OMD, Panasonic 7-14mm at 8mm, 1/60, f5.6, ISO 200