Digital photography and the nature of an image going no further than a jpg, be that on your website or on social media, has created a fast food attitude towards photography. Too many times have we scrolled past an image that has taken hours or even days to create. I hated the idea that my images were trapped in their digital form.

But when I started printing again I found that my attitude to the way I composed and framed an image had changed. I was being more considered with my approach given that I wanted to print the end results. In the past I would shoot slower, mindful that there are only so many frames left on the roll. That necessary delay waiting for the film to be processed and printed made you appreciate the time you had to capture the image in the first place.

So knowing that I am going to go home, invest time in editing the images but also invest time and money into printing them has caused me to once again be more considered with how I take the images in the first place.

Iceland has been on my list of places to photograph for many years, but the idea of coming here had gained momentum after I discovered a passion for capturing people in otherworldly locations. Iceland is a place where movies are filmed to ensure the audience is transported to another world so it should surely work for me as well? I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be able to visit some remarkable places in the past few months and to be honest I thought I was done with my trips for this year but the network effect of having creative friends found me booking tickets to Iceland the month before.

I was holding my phone when a WhatsApp notification appeared on the screen from Elena. “We’re downstairs!” It was a dark and rainy morning in London, a perfect way to leave for a warmer island. I got in the front next to the driver and simultaneously greeted Mark and Elena behind me, whilst also apologising for the early start. Our final moments in the UK were spent in Gatwick airport sharing a homemade cheesecake that Elena had brought. A nice symbolic gesture, but also an indication of how we were all going to enjoy spending time together. Afterall, you can do anything with people that you have shared a cheesecake with before 6 am in the morning.

I was already awake when my alarm went off but it startled me all the same. I’d been awake for a while now, sleep had been elusive since coming to California as I take ages to acclimatise, but this morning was special and my brain had been busy imagining the day ahead. It was 5 am and my body still ached from being in the car for the last two days as we drove from the Bay Area to Death Valley.

My camera bag was at the foot of the bed along with my clothes ready for me to quickly get going. In the room next to mine I could hear the faint movements of life from my neighbour and shooting partner; Sirena. We’d briefly met the night before after she too had driven from San Francisco. She had greeted me in the lobby of the hotel with a massive smile and an enthusiastic hug, any signs of being on the road for eight hours had evaporated.

It’s Monday morning here in NYC and my bags are packed ready to fly home after a rather accidental but fantastic weekend trip to the city. Work had taken me to Nashville and the flights required a layover which for BA means NYC. So after the working week I flew back to NYC and instead of going straight home I got off the plane to see family and friends but also to take some photos.

I was last here in June when the city was shrouded in a thick orange smog caused by the Canadian wildfires. At the time I had planned to shoot some street fashion with Marisa Roper who is local to NYC.

You could be forgiven for thinking the salt pans of Gozo were created millions of years ago by meteorites or perhaps they are the remnants of an alien structure. Visually they are immediately ancient, belonging to a history that we couldn’t possibly have learned about at school. The islands of Malta are rich in this same history, one that attracted countless civilisations over time. At the heart of the Mediterranean, Malta is studded with ancient fortifications that illustrate the strategic importance of its location for militaries and trade alike.

I have wanted to visit Petra for many years. It’s one of those places that is immediately recognisable by your friends and yet the same people might struggle to say exactly where it is. It has been the backdrop to movies and covets history from many of the major civilisations this planet has witnessed. It’s an ancient city carved into the sandstone mountains and who’s monuments have stored the treasure of pharaohs or welcomed the Greek and then Roman empires. All of this is framed within a jagged mountain landscape that is only made accessible by enormous canyons.

My first job in photography was working in a professional darkroom, printing other people’s photos. I later created my own darkroom in my parents garage and would spend hours in there perfecting my photos. I’ve always enjoyed the end to end process of photography, the pre-planning, the styling and makeup, collaborating with a model, lighting and of course the photography. But as soon as the shoot was over I would rush to process the film and then print off a few photos. It wasn’t uncommon for me to open the door to my darkroom to discover it was 3 am in the morning.

I found myself in the lobby of a hotel on the outskirts of Salt Lake City in Utah waiting for a chap called Dmitriy, that classic American name, to take me to meet Jenn, the lady who would be the model for our trip. I would later establish that Dmitriy was of Greek origin but born in the Ukraine. I love to travel and I truly enjoy meeting new people, but this was definitely out there, even for me. I was alone in Utah and about to meet two total strangers for a photography tour that specialises in art nude in the desert, how did that happen?

A few weeks back I got an email from work to say that I had a lot of holiday allowance left to use, the second most in the business and we are 750+ people. Use it or lose it! This was timed with me chatting with a model who I had worked with earlier in the year and she was planning a trip abroad, a photo tour of salt lakes and the Moab desert.

I used to work in photography professionally, but today I work in software development. At first glance these two worlds seem very disparate. But in fact there is a lot of synergy, or at least there is for me.