I had to drive down to Colchester yesterday, as I had a couple of lights to drop off for repair with Bowens and they’d promised to look at them straight away to save me driving down there again (thanks guys – great service). I was expecting to have a few hours to kill so nipped across to Clacton on Sea; in the event I had a bite of lunch and received a call whilst I was finishing my dessert to say that they were ready.

I find seaside towns quite fascinating in the winter and would have liked to have spent a bit more time down there. As it was I had about an hour in total, and then decided to head back in order to beat the motorway traffic. Still, a good day as my lights are now working properly (new switches on each) and I got a handful of photographs.

I was just looking at the photos from a recent trip to New York, and I really do love this one as it kind of typifies the city for me. I was walking through downtown Manhattan to see the Freedom Tower, and stopped on West Broadway when I noticed this old neon sign for a liquor store; it was like a throwback to decades gone by and the watercolour finish I just gave it in Photoshop seems to work nicely, and enhance that “bygone era” feel.

It’s so easy to spend your time in NYC looking up, but some of the best shots are closer to the ground.

Some shots from a lovely trip in Paris – we went early on New Year’s Eve and came back on Sunday night.

I do love this city, and next time we go back a French guy I was chatting to is going to take us down to the unofficial catacombs!

Anyway, many of these were taken on my iPhone as we were so layered up with clothing, scarves and gloves that carrying a camera about was somewhat irritating.