George Michael’s Memorial Garden in Winter

December 25, 2017 – Christmas Day – marks one year since singer George Michael died. A few days ago I went to visit his memorial garden in Highgate which is in a small green outside his former home. I had visited this garden at the height of autumn and was curious to see it in … Read more

Graffiti and (multilingual) exclamations of love

This time last year I wrote a Valentine’s Day themed piece on Seeing hearts everywhere  illustrated with a variety of images that either contain or suggest the heart motif. This post is about graffiti and exclamations and expressions of love, and features  a selection of digital photographs I’ve taken from 2005 to the present. Back in 2004 … Read more

Facades in Rome: old and new signs of culture

A few weeks ago I visited Rome after a gap of many years.  I had wanted to revisit for a while, especially after seeing contemporary films set in Rome by several of my favourite Italian directors: Nanni Moretti, Gianni di Grigorio and Paolo Sorrentino. I was immediately struck by the architecture and monumentality of Rome, but … Read more

Smoking in Japan

Unlike in Britain and the USA, smoking is still permitted in bars, hotels and restaurants in Japan. However, things are beginning to change. Here are a couple of images I took in November of designated smoking areas in Shinjuku, Tokyo I liked this bilingual pavement sign seen in the Chuo ward of Tokyo, and found … Read more