The photographs taken in Poland, both Kraków and Auschwitz/Bernell have now been added to the website. You can access those by going through the menu Poland/Auschwitz – Birkenau.

We recently took a trip to Poland as I wanted to photograph Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau camps.

It is recommended when you go to visit and pay your respects in these places that you employ a guide so that you learn more whilst you’re there and obviously they know their way around.

We took their advice and went with a guide however being disabled, it was rather difficult to keep up and I missed a lot. The guide seemed to want to get the tour over and done with and was moving at pace and I personally believe missed a lot of the camp out.

I say this, as I have spoken to other people that I’ve taken the same tour and I’ve seen photographs of different areas of the camp, not included in our tour and facts that were given in the tour to others, not given to us.

Although the guide was informative, I have to say his ability as a guide, if that’s the right word, was found wanting. He clearly in my opinion, wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

I am not saying do not take a guide on these tours because I do believe it is required however I would suggest if you’re going to take a tour you return on a second day by yourself without a guide so that you can go around once again, looking at things that have probably been omitted from your tour for whatever reason that may be.

Today I found myself buying a smaller tripod, something I never thought I’d do. For years I’ve relied on sturdier, heavier tripods made by IFootage (I have 3) — reliable tools that give me confidence in all conditions. But the reality is, they’re getting harder and harder to carry onto a flight with all the restrictions now in place, we are also doing this as economy and therefore do not want to pay extra just to take a tripod on board especially on longer trips and when travelling light.

This new one is tiny. In fact, it’s so small that it will probably fit in my coat pocket. Made by Neewer, it extends to about 20 inches when fully set up, and when collapsed it’s only around 7 inches long. That’s a huge difference compared to what I’m used to.

The big question is reliability. With its light weight, I’m not expecting it to handle strong winds or heavier camera gear with ease. Still, it feels like a practical compromise, especially with a holiday coming up where portability is more important than anything else.

Will it stand up to the test in real-world conditions? Only time will tell. For now, it’s a handy little addition to my kit — not perfect, but perhaps exactly what I need for the kind of photography I’ve got planned.

Not a good day for photography sadly :(

It is actually very frustrating, I have so much to do at home and I am attending the first game of the season this Saturday that I do not think I will be going out to vlog this weekend.

You may know? But I am a lifelong Stoke City supporter that owns a season ticket, well this first game of the coming season is on Saturday 9th August at 3pm and I am really looking forward to it.

I am also in the middle of painting parts of the home, the aim is to have that done before the weather turns, not that it is particularly good at the moment, ensuring we are bad weather protected throughout the property.

And I have already mentioned this weather, it is poor, very overcast with a high possibility of rain! I was planning on doing the vlog today, but it is just gloomy and I felt it wasn’t worth the effort. Get the painting done, along with the football and venture out again next week.

So, apologies, I may try later today but it seems doubtful at this time. I will leave you with a photograph of the Spinnaker Tower taken on another more joyful day!

Good evening all

I have just added the photographs from Tysoe Windmill to the website, hope you enjoy them, please leave you thoughts in the comments section, Thank you.