The shot I wanted could only come from the highest vantage point in Greenwich: the Royal Observatory. Only from there I could capture the expanse of Greenwich Park, the colonnade of the Queen’s House, the iconic spires of the Old Royal Naval College, and the towering skyline of Canary Wharf, all in the same scene.

As luck would have it, Greenwich Park was dusted in snow and visibility across the was excellent. The conditions were perfect. The images turned out to be almost exactly as I had envisioned. As an artist, I couldn’t ask for much more.

Behind every sunset, a sunrise lies in the waiting.

As 2011 passes by, let us look forward to a hopeful and meaningful 2012!

Enjoy our photos!

Standing on a pole in the middle of a windy field, a hundred people waiting to have their group photo taken. What do you do if your full-frame camera is in repair and your widest lens doesn’t quite go wide enough?

Panorama, a technique I first used in 2001, to photograph the Palace of Versailles, when I first owned a Canon Digital IXUS.

About 9 hours into the journey, after bouts of interrupted sleep, I could see that the railtrack was surrounded by water, almost as high as the treetops. For a short moment I was in awe of the ingenuity of the Vietnamese in building such an elevated railway to withstand floods.

I soon realised my naivety, as the train ground to a halt. I was now up the creek without a paddle. This was no Orient Express, as I discovered over the next uneventful 18 hours.

When the train began to make progress, at 0645 on 13 November 2007, I had never been so overjoyed and relieved to see a train move. I vowed then never again to complain about British trains being slow.

Eventually I reached my destination, Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which happened to be in the centre of the flood zone. (I checked into the excellent, if optimistically named, Blue Sky Hotel.) Feeling somewhat deprived of photographic stimulation from the journey, I wrapped a plastic bag around my camera, donned the hotel flip-flops and waded through the flooded streets of the Old Town.

No-one ever calls out the photographer’s name. That’s why I felt as nervous as those bright young things sitting in the front row, waiting for Matt Brittin, CEO of Google UK, to announce the winners of the Britain’s Dream Teachers. At the opportune moment, the photographer jumped into action – my job was to capture each of the seven winners being presented their award by Matt Brittin and Jazzie B. I was on autopilot – watch the winner walking up, move into position, grab their attention, snap snap snap.

The prizegiving ceremony was over within minutes. I realised that the significance of my work for the winners would reach much further. The images would become immutable records of an achievement, built and looked back on over a lifetime.

Congratulations to the seven winning teachers, who have done some fascinating work to inspire kids to learn. Go check out their teaching videos on YouTube. My sincere gratitude also goes to Illumina Digital Ltd. (producers of Jamie’s Dream School), Nicola Hern Communications and Google UK for involving me in such a meaningful event.

Congratulations to New Zealand, not only do you produce some mighty fine wines, you also produced some mighty fine football at the Inner City World Cup 2011. They were crowned this year’s winner in a nail-biting final, beating defending champion Colombia 2-1 on the windy plains of Charlton Park. Although I was commissioned by Greenwich Council’s 2012 Unit to photograph the prize presentation by Cllr John Fahy, I took the opportunity to hone my own shooting skills from the sidelines.