Pictures of Far Eastern holidays

After a hectic summer of shooting finished buildings, construction sites, Sheffield steelworks, bridge lifts, combine harvesting and even a pig farm - a well-earned and relaxing holiday in the Maldives and Hong Kong was taken! I decided not to take the Nikon D3 as I did not want the responsibility of being 'on call' on holiday and also having to look after a valuable bit of photographic equipment, and plumped for the less valuable but frustratingly limited D5000.

As any professional photographer soon discovers, it is impossible to take casual 'holiday snaps' as it is ingrained within us to strive for photographic perfection. We wait for the right light, most interesting sky, the most attractive looking tree/indiginous native/flower/local fauna etc etc (also risking the wrath and impatience of fellow travellers) in order to obtain the perfect holiday photograph.

The Maldives offers a perfect tailor-made photographic opportunity for even the least gifted photographer, with deep blue skies. clear azure water, text book palm trees and attractively appointed water bungalows. The skill is finding a way of photographing the many and varied views without duplicating what has already been done. It is difficult to go wrong with undertaking any landscape and scenic photography in The Maldives.

This photograph was taken from the roof bar on the 47th floor of the Exclesior Hotel in Hong Kong and with any night photography, it has to executed at dusk so that the sky has a navy blue hue but remains lighter than the lit buildings around. The Hong Kong convention centre is clearly visible in the foreground and there are boats saling into the harbour.

On a visit to the aquarium at the Ocean Park in Hong Kong, I was fascinated by these little creatures called Sea Dragons - a relative of the sea horse, and spent much of my time trying to photograph them. Even though the ambient lighting was limited, I think the images have come out well.

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