In my previous entry I wrote I’m better suited for warmer climates. Well, I really hate to break the news to you, but we’re heading there for some serious R&R. That means no updates on this site until somewhere in February. Til then & have fun in the meantime!

If I had to pick one image of our trip to the south to depict the atmosphere over there: this would be it. Pétanque, the quintessential French game, played by men that look as ancient as the game itself in the shade of old platane trees on a square in the beautiful historic city of Nîmes. Had I been able to add a baguette somewhere, it would have easily scored 121%.

What can I say except: we were on vacation and this is how that looks like in the south of France, in this case in the quaint old port of Cassis that I can heartily recommend. And nope, that ain’t me in the picture: such is the fate of the photographer.

We’ve spent a few weeks in the south and life there basically hasn’t changed since I first visited the area some 30 years ago. The narrow streets are still the same, as are the houses, the countryside and even the people look the same as back then. Well, the local winery nowadays calls itself “biological” but as it hasn’t changed its way of producing wine, it doesn’t count. Expect more from the south in the weeks to come.

Finally I’ve found some time to look at images I shot during a trip to the south a month ago. This photo of reflections of trees in the Dordogne river was taken on March 14 in the Auvergne region, right after I found a snake and just before I found a bat and nearly squashed a scorpion with my car. France resembles Africa in more ways than meet the eye.

One of the best things about Singapore, where we spent Christmas, is the abundance of delicious food in every variety one can imagine. Needless to say a lot of my images of the city are food-related. The result: either my clothes have shrunk or I have gained some weight over there. Luckily there’s an abundance of tailors too: I wonder if they’ve got a deal going on?

Happy New Year! What better way to start 2008 with an image I shot just before Christmas on the tropical island of Ko Yao Noi (Thailand). Sunrises like this one greeted us each and every day while sitting in front of the little villa we rented at the (warning: shameless plug coming up) wonderful Ko Yao Island Resort. Fading away in the distance are the many limestone cliffs and islands of Phang Nga bay. Needless to say we had a wonderful time.

Finally: two new galleries. Namibia: desert land hosts some 40 photos of the vast landscapes of that beautiful country, while Namibia: wildlife contains a selection of wildlife images shot over there (the images I mean, not the wildlife). By the way, we found the zebra in the image above in Namibia’s south. The farmer next door (50 kilometers further on) told me it had wandered into the herd as an infant and had decided to stay. After all those years, it probably thinks it’s a cow…

As promised, more from Namibia. I’m kind of busy shooting weddings and have a webdesign project going on so I’m running behind schedule on this Namibia gallery thing… Anyway, I have narrowed the choice down to some 150 images which is pretty good considering I had 1049 to start with, but I won’t bother you with all of them. This, another favorite, is a close-up of one of the sand dunes near Sossusvlei just after sunrise.

We just got back from a three week trip through Namibia, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. As it will take a while to get an image gallery on-line, I will just post an image from the trip once every while. This is my favorite photo, taken early morning in Etosha National Park, of a big male lion roaring away the morning silence.