Markets are always great fun to photograph. There’s plenty of colour and always interesting people. I love to use a fast lens to get some sharp close ups of the interesting fruit, veg and fish. And of course, it’s always useful to pick up some good value food while you’re there!

Shanghai feels about as communist as Bury St Edmunds. It’s a fantastic city full of exciting buildings, bright lights, lovely restaurants and luxury shops. (Shanghai that is, not Bury St Edmunds which is a small market town in Suffolk, UK). 

Karl Marx would be turning in his grave to see the business suits scuttling between their shiny office buildings nattering on their iPhones. Or the expats jumping out of their Mercedes for a quick pancake at the splendid La Creperie in the French Concession.

There is little evidence of the austere grey buildings that dominate parts of Beijing or the smog that blankets the capital city. Shanghai feels like one of the most interesting and modern cities I’ve visited - the only downside is the inordinate number of Starbucks! 

A great city - I’m definitely going back.

This week the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge visited Singapore. The crowds turned out to see them in the sweltering sunshine at the new park, Gardens by the Bay. It was a great occasion for expat Brits to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The other day I found a great new location for shoots - an old disused railway track. Up until last year this track was the last section of the line from Bangkok to Singapore. The terminal has now been moved to the north of Singapore and most of the track (owned jointly by Singapore and Malaysia) has been sold for development, as has the lovely old station. I took my sister and her family down there a few days ago for an 8am shoot. The light was lovely and I’ll definitely be using it again.

Earlier this year I ventured down to Little India here in Singapore to watch the Thaipusam festival.

This Hindu festival focusses on faith, endurance and penance. Hindus give thanks to their god Lord Murugan and go to different lengths to demonstrate their devotion….some were simply carrying pots of milk on their heads. More dramatically others were pierced with skewers through their arms, tongues and cheeks and some were even carrying fruit attached to their bodies with hooks.

The most devout were carrying huge, heavy elaborate metal frameworks which were attached to their bodies with chains and hooks. These last worshippers were accompanied by groups of younger hindus playing instruments, singing and cheering.

It’s a truly fascinating festival with a great atmosphere and well worth photographing. I shall certainly be heading down to Little India again for Thaipusam 2013.

One of the great things about living in Singapore is the opportunity to travel to nearby countries. When on these trips I look for people with interesting faces to photograph. Generally this means old people! Their crinkled, lined faces give wonderful depth to photographs and watery, rheumy eyes often add a sparkle to a smiling face.

I try not to rush and spend a few moments chatting to them before I take out the camera. And, if appropriate, I will always buy something from them or offer them a few dollars to say thanks.

I generally shoot these photos with a pretty shallow depth of field (somewhere between f2.8 and f4) which I hope, along with accurate focussing, draws the viewer’s attention to the subject’s eyes - the window to the soul!

A few days ago I was taken to the the fantastic new Gardens by the Bay in Singapore by fellow photographer Stuart Jenner (www.stuartjennerphotography.com). We wanted to capture some pictures of the new space-age structures in the park which support a walkway for visitors. There were also great views as the sun set behind the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

For some photos it was tricky to expose the whole scene correctly as there was such a wide dynamic range from very light areas to very dark areas. This is often the case when a subject is back lit. I therefore decided to bracket five exposures for each set up (each shot having a slightly different shutter speed therefore letting in more or less light). I then combined these shots to create one combined photo in the HDR programme Photomatix.

I’m not usually a fan of HDR, especially the grungy look the photos sometimes have. But I think the ones I’ve posted here work quite well.

Enjoyed a cracking day taking these photos at @surreycricket Oval yesterday. Hosted by @ParagonSM in their fantastic Phil Tufnell VIP Club. Entertaining speeches from the great @StewieCricket @markbutcher72 and of course the very amusing @philtufnell. @njknight78 and Mike Gatting also popped in for a chat with the clients. Congrats to Alistair Cook - always great to see a century, especially from such a good guy.

All Saints Church, Otterhampton, Somerset

My step-father-in-law volunteers for a great organisation, The Churches Conservation Trust, a charity saving at-risk historic churches. He took us to visit All Saints, a church which is no longer in regular use, but is well-maintained and has some interesting features, including a large oil painting and a rickety old organ. The visit was a great opportunity to test the low-light capabilities of my shiny new Nikon D800 and it performed pretty well I think, looking at the images below.