These are just some of our huge collection of photographs spanning over forty years from Kodak box to Canon digital camera.  They are, for the most part unapologetically self-indulgent but then, this website is about us.  The upside of digital photography is that you can 'shoot' away without giving a thought to the cost or where the next film is coming from - as proven in our holiday in India and Nepal where I managed to take over nine hundred pictures.  However, of those nine hundred, well over half are rubbish and that brings me to the downside of 'digital' - that of finding the time and inclination to sort them out!

The equipment I use now is a Canon Powershot G2 digital camera (4Mpixel) with a 1Gbyte IBM Microdrive (Compactflash compatible).  If on a lengthy holiday, I transfer the day's shot's onto my Archos Jukebox 40Gbyte MP3 player which has an adaptor for compactflash as well as other flash card types.  Unlike the admittedly beautiful I-Pod, it is somewhat ugly with a non-intuitive menu system.  However, also unlike the I-Pod, it can not only translate, store and play MP3 music files but can (with another supplied adaptor) convert videos and play them back on the (albeit tiny) built in colour screen as well as output them onto a monitor or TV.  All in all, a decent bit of kit.

In keeping with the rest of this website, clicking on any photo 'thumbnail' will load a full size, un-cropped version or an alternative image.  Clicking on underlined or highlighted text will also open up a window to either a linked website or further image.

All photographs featured on this website copyright Phil Buckley © 2004. All rights reserved.

INDIA

Jean and I went on holiday to India in 2003 and were entranced by the sights, the culture and the people there.  We toured by coach, train and plane from Delhi, through to Varanasi, Agra and finally Nepal where we stayed in Kathmandu and a resort in the mountains in sight of the incredible Himalayas.  One day we hope  to go back and maybe see some of the South of the country.

    These two young girls were standing in the waters of the Ganges at Varanasi amongst the waste and detritus of millions of people and, as you can see from the smiles on their faces, were totally happy to do so.

    In stark contrast to the picture above, this girl - probably no more than ten or twelve years old - was living between the tracks at Varanasi railway station and looking after two much younger brothers.  They were collecting plastic to burn so that they could keep warm and dry their clothes out and weren't pestering-type beggars as so many others were.  The look on her face is one of desperate hopelessness.

    I think this is a nice picture of a young man, seemingly pointlessly sweeping the floor outside of a building in the Red Fort, Delhi.  We saw many examples of such futile sweeping activities all over India and decided that it is probably another example of an attempt to provide employment for all in such a hugely populated country - and why not.

    No photo album of India would be complete without a classic picture of the Taj Mahal - this one being taken at about 6am, just after sunrise.  India is a country of phenomenal contrasts and this is a classic example.  Situated on the outskirts of Agra, the Taj is even more beautiful close up than most people realise as it is not just plain white marble but completely covered in semi-precious coloured inlay and writings from the Koran.  The contrast lies in the fact that Agra is one of the more filthy cities in India with open sewers running along the streets and dirt and poverty everywhere - correctly described by one member of our family as 'the toilet of India'.

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BARCELONA

We went to this amazing city for a week in 2002 and walked our proverbial socks off visiting the many sights and galleries on offer there.  The main 'claim to fame' is that Antonio Gaudi built dozens of very unusually styled buildings in the city, the most amazing being the as yet unfinished church, the Sagrada Familia.  It has an incredibly vibrant atmosphere but our time there was slightly marred by the unsuccessful 'mugging' I suffered at the hands of two men on the Metro system!  Still a 'must see' place.  

    This reflection of a stained glass window in the glass box surrounding prayer 'candles' was taken in the main cathedral, Barcelona.  The lights are actually solid-state LEDs and are 'lit' by putting money into a slot - a precaution against the fire risk caused by having real candles in old buildings.  The masses of candles lit in the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Italy caused so much secondary fire damage after the earthquake that all but destroyed it, that they too now have modern LED 'candles.

    A close up of the sad angular face on one of the many statues around the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona.  This church, conceived and designed by Antonio Gaudi is simply awesome in its size, complexity of design and outrageous styling.  It is still being built many years after Gaudi's death and will be finished - who knows when?

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NICE PICTURES

Well we think so anyhow, just hover over them for a brief description and click on them to view the full image

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