Most people remember Joseph Stalin as a merciless dictator, responsible for the deaths of millions of people. But to the residents of Gori, the Georgian town where he was born, he is a man worth commemorating, whom they are proud to acknowledge. His childhood home is carefully preserved in the grounds of the museum that 'celebrates' his life.

The Georgian town of Signagi (also written Sighnaghi) sits on a hilltop in a position that reminded me of many Italian towns. It still has signifcant remnants of its 18th-century town wall and fortifications.

The Diri Baba Mausoleum is a Sufi pilgrimage site of historical and architectural significance. Built into a rocky hillside opposite a medieval cemetery in the 15th century,  it houses the tomb of a unknown sheikh.

I used to smile when I heard retired people say that they didn’t know how they ever found time to work, they were so busy in their retirement. But after this September I know more than ever what they meant! I could barely fit in everything I wanted/needed to do this month even without ‘proper’ work to occupy me.

I have to admit to rather liking shopping. Even grocery shopping can be quite enjoyable if you’re buying some of your favourite foods. And while shopping for clothes isn’t quite the unadulterated pleasure it was when I was younger, it’s still great to come across something that looks and fits just right, even if that’s a rarity these days! I don’t even have to be shopping for myself; Christmas shopping for gifts also gives me pleasure.

When is a natural woodland not a natural woodland? Answer: when it has been carefully designed, landscaped and dotted with follies. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a delight to explore; quite the contrary!

Harmony isn’t about sameness, but about differences that work together. Whether that’s people, animals, architecture, landscapes, garden planting or colours … Harmony teaches us that different need not mean clashing. I’ve chosen seven images from my archives that in a variety of ways speak to me of harmony.

The Irish author James Joyce lived for many years in the city of Trieste, from 1904-1920 (with a spell in Zurich during WW1). During those last years of the city's Austro-Hungarian glory it was much-loved by Bohemian artists and writers such as Joyce. He moved there when he was just 22 years old and began writing some of his best-known literary works there.

Have you ever thought about how ropes are made? Or at least, how they were traditionally made? Historically there was great demand for ropes, especially wherever there were ships. And the ropes needed to be long. To make them required space to walk, as strands of the chosen fibre needed to be spread out and twisted together.

A favourite song from one of my favourite song writers opens this post about bridges. The symbolism of a ‘bridge over troubled water’ speaks to us all. Whether a literal bridge helping us to cross a river, railway or other obstacle, or a metaphorical one helping us navigate difficult time in our lives, we all rely on bridges.

Cityscapes have a strong appeal to the photographer in many of us, and perhaps especially if we like to work in monochrome. Strong architectural lines, contrasting materials and interesting shapes, particularly those of some modern architecture, are well-suited to black and white compositions.

Water seems such a soft, malleable element. But our planet is full of examples of its power. It is constantly reshaping the land, wearing away rocks and moving others. Over time, what seems immovable is sculpted, smoothed and reshaped. We can’t see it at work, the changes are too slow, but we can see the results of its work.

Perched on the top of the Colle di San Giusto near Trieste’s castle stands a tall monument in honour of the fallen soldiers of World War One. The monument, classical in style, features a group of five naked male figures in a dramatic war scene.

Who hasn’t stood on the shore and gazed out at a distant horizon? Or on a hill or mountain, looking out over an expansive view and the sky above? But when we try to capture it with a camera we are sometimes disappointed. The view that awed us so much may seem flat and less impressive. ‘You had to be there’, we might say.

Even as a child time seems to speed up as we near the end of summer; how much more so for us now as adults! It seems no time since I was writing about July; now it is almost September.

Most of the time when we take a photo it’s our intention that the viewer understands what they are looking at. Some might even say that the whole point of photography to present a clear image of the world. But sometimes it can be fun to distort or manipulate that image in order to create a different vision.

The River Ure skirts the ancient city of Ripon on its eastern side. In the 1770s a canal was built, engineered by William Jessop, to link the river with the city centre. As canals go it was on the short side, just 2.3 miles long and with three locks.

Some weeks ago I mentioned that I would be exhibiting an image in my photography group’s show this coming September. Several people showed interest in seeing the shot and I promised to share it in due course.

Every night of the year a horn is blown at the four corners of the obelisk in Ripon’s Market Place to set the ‘watch’. This ceremony has taken place for the last 1,100 years, without fail.

The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur is a group of nineteen astronomical instruments built in 1734 by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of the city. But if when you think of ‘astronomical instruments’ we are visualising telescopes, or maybe small handheld devices, think again! These are dramatically large structures, most far taller than a person.

Early in the 8th century the then bishop of York, John, founded a monastery. When he died in 721 his body was buried in a chapel of the monastery’s Saxon church. In 1037 he was canonised and his monastery, and the town that had grown up around it, became a place of pilgrimage.

Can anyone honestly assess for themselves which are their ‘best ever’ photos? I know I can’t! The best I can do is choose photos that I personally love and am proud of.

Bright, cheerful, serene, warm, comforting … Words that capture the appeal of the colour yellow. And in this particularly hot Northern Hemisphere summer it’s good to be reminded of the positive qualities of yellow when perhaps some of us feel we’ve seen too much of it! Here in London we have not only bright yellow sun but also yellow grass in our parks and yellowing leaves on the trees.

Oddly, while I find my own aging appearance less than appealing, as a keen street/candid photographer I’m often drawn to older people. And especially for monochrome photography. The character in these faces really suits that medium; or does the medium suit the character?

Every first-time visitor to London, I suspect, has Westminster Abbey high on their must-see list. Fewer however make a point of visiting nearby Westminster Cathedral, the city’s central Roman Catholic place of worship. And that’s a shame, as the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, to give it its full name, is striking in appearance and has an interesting history of its own.

From earliest times people have always found cause for celebrating, perhaps because we are naturally social beings. From big festivals bringing whole communities together to small family events, we like nothing more than to gather and mark special occasions.

Although Angkor Wat is the most famous sight in Angkor, it is not the only one by any means, despite the fact that the two names are often used interchangeably. Angkor in fact means ‘city’ and Angkor Wat the ‘city temple’. But there are over a thousand temples, ranging in scale from mere piles of rubble scattered through rice fields to Angkor Wat itself.

If you look at a map of England you will see that Hull, or Kingston upon Hull to give its proper name, is rather out on a limb. Lying on the Humber Estuary its location so close to the sea has resulted in a history shaped by sea-going trade and shipping.

Travelling teaches us that people around the world have more in common than we sometimes realise. People everywhere laugh, cry, worry, and hope for the same basic things. And when good things happen, we celebrate. There are small family celebrations: a new baby, a wedding, a birthday. And then there are the celebrations that bring people together on a much bigger scale. A national holiday, a religious festival, a sporting success …

! London hasn’t seen any rain now for 37 days (although a light sprinkling is forecast for this morning before a return to heatwave conditions. The temperature has swung between the high 20s centigrade (reasonably comfortable) to the low and even mid 30s (not so comfortable!)

It’s often said that odd numbers of objects make for more interesting compositions in photography: three, five, maybe seven. And I’m sure we’ve had photo challenges linked to this concept, especially threes. But today I’m talking about photographing numbers themselves. Photographing not three objects, but the number three. Not five objects but the number five.

In 1888 William Hesketh Lever, owner of the Sunlight Soap factory on England’s Wirral Peninsula, founded a village to house his workers. He based it on some innovative principles for his time (and perhaps they also seem quite radical still today?) His vision was to provide his workers with decent, sanitary housing in a considered architectural and picturesque form.

We have the US to thank for the myth of the magic of the open road. Stretching in front of us, inviting exploration, always (in our imaginations at least) empty. Travelling this road doesn’t just open up new vistas, new places to discover; it also lures us with the promise of new beginnings, even new versions of ourselves.

One morning in Budapest we spent wandering the city’s Jewish Quarter. In the early 2000s this area underwent a revival, with the famous ruin bars springing up in courtyards of buildings slated for demolition and a mixed community moving into the area to open shops and restaurants, create art or simply to live.

Travel creates adventures. They may seem quite small at the time, like a chance but memorable encounter with a local person that changes your perspective on the world. Or they may seem huge, visiting an iconic world sight that you’ve dreamed about seeing for years. But whether large or small, long planned for or serendipitous, the adventures experienced while travelling are, in my opinion, among the best to be found.

First, a disclaimer. I don't make a habit of photographing toilets! But the signs outside them are another matter and yes, sometimes even the toilets themselves just have to be captured. Here is a collection of some of the most amusing / interesting / downright bizarre ones I have come across on my travels.

It goes without saying that cities and towns are built by and for people. Yet so often when we photograph buildings we wait until the scene is clear before pressing the shutter. But what is a city without its people? Including them in your shots brings the city to life, showing how these buildings create the backdrop for daily life.

While we enjoyed exploring Buda, and loved the views of the Danube and Pest beyond, it was the latter that we spent the most time in. We stayed there, we ate and drank there, we visited museums and we wandered its streets.

When I spotted the Light Art Museum on the map, a short walk from the apartment we were renting, it quickly rose to one of our must-see sights. The museum is 'one of the first exhibition spaces in the world to specialise specifically in the collection ... and display of works of this character.'

Why, when we see the world in colour, do we often find black and white portraits so engaging? With the distraction of colours stripped away we are driven to focus on elements such as the direction of a gaze, skin texture and the interplay of light and shadow on the face. Elements such as clothing and jewellery fade into the background and the expression on the face takes centre stage.

Budapest is a city of two halves; so much so that it was once two cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the River Danube. Although now united as one, each has its own characteristics. Buda is hilly, with historic buildings, panoramic views, and winding streets.

There are no guarantees of whale sightings, as anyone who has ventured out on a whale-watching trip must know. Nature always has the upper hand and may surprise, delight or disappoint. Yet whatever you see, or don’t see, a day out on the water is always a pleasure.

As photographers we are trying to convey three-dimensional scenes and objects on a flat two-dimensional surface, whether paper or screen, and we can use similar tricks to those of the Renaissance artists. Lines that converge on a point close to the horizon (‘leading lines’) create a sense of distance, as do receding objects.

Kandy is Sri Lanka’s second largest city after Colombo and was listed by UNESCO in 1988. It has a long and proud history. It was the last stronghold of Sinhalese independence, resisting both Portuguese and Dutch rule long after the rest of the island had been conquered.

Whitstable is renowned for its sunsets, said to have inspired JMW Turner. Last night’s coincided with low tide, the wet shingle reflecting the colours in the sky.

Gal Oya is the most untouched and least visited of all of Sri Lanka’s national parks. It was established in 1954 but having been off-limits during the civil war it is only now being re-discovered. On the day we did a jeep safari in the park we seemed to have it to ourselves.

I have been travelling on the ‘Tube’, the London Underground, all my life. Walking through the Tube’s many passageways you often pass doors and grilles that are locked shut. Have you ever wondered what is behind them? I recently had a glimpse into this hidden world on a tour that took us into areas of Charing Cross station normally closed to the public.

From the well-known (think Grand Canyon or Great Pyramid of Giza) to the less lauded (an ancient artefact, a beautiful stained-glass window, a snow-capped mountain, a colourful bird, a surprise encounter with wildlife) … the world is full of wonders. I am fortunate to be able to travel and to appreciate the wonders I am able to discover far from home.

How do you feel about organised visits to local communities while travelling? Are they a welcome opportunity to learn more about the culture and history of a place? Or are they uncomfortably intrusive and too staged to offer genuine insights?

You might think that the place where Buddhism was first introduced to Sri Lanka would be among its most visited sites, but Mihintale seems to be off the radar for most tourists. Hence we found it surprisingly quiet and peaceful even visiting mid-afternoon.