Author Archives: Ursula

Ever since my brother gave me my first camera just before my first major overseas adventure (a very long, long time ago), I have loved traveling and loved taking pictures. It's only recently, however, that I've been able to really indulge my passion for both. Living in Bangkok for many years gave me access to some wonderful photographic teachers and mentors, as well as allowing me opportunities for travel that I'd not had before. Although I've moved back to Australia, I am still traveling a fair bit - and I'm loving every minute of it!

Palm Sunday. Hotel Cartier, Quillan. My husband and I sat in the hotel breakfast room, people-watching surreptitiously over our coffee and croissants. The only other occupant of the room was a woman in walk-pants, about my age, with a round quirky face and short curly hair. She sat in a booth opposite us, unhurriedly drinking café […]

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Take isolated communities growing rice and raising cows and chickens in rural Cambodia where few roads reach, and you have a need. Take some rail track in disrepair, a bamboo raft and a small motor and you have a solution. Meet “The Bamboo Railway”: the ear-splitting, bone-rattling, wind-in-your-hair, bushes-in-your-face solution to transporting goods and people […]

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April of 2010, I spend a magical three days in Varanasi, India, with photographers Gavin Gough and Matt Brandon. One of the ‘homework’ tasks they gave us was to make a themed Soundslides presentation. The Hindu faithful recognise the integration of five elements: earth, air, water, fire and spirit.  I was fascinated by the use of […]

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I’m in Cambodia at the moment with four gifted professional photographers and thirteen talented amateurs. All I can say is this: Thank heavens I’m not taking pictures for my living! It’s not that my photos are bad – well, not all of them – it is just that those taken by everyone else are extraordinary. […]

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“Try to focus on one thing – it could be one colour, one idea, any one thing, really,” instructed our photo-tour guide Gavin Gough. “Don’t just wander around taking pictures of everything!” Now, I have enormous respect for Gavin, Bangkok-based travel photographer and teacher extraordinaire, but I was about to head into Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown, […]

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