Category: travel

Me and my camera in someone else’s country, my U.S.A, my California

slices of the sunshine state..more to come…

Me and my camera in someone else’s country, my U.S.A, my California

Me and my camera in someone else’s country, my U.S.A, my California

Me and my camera in someone else’s country, my U.S.A, my California

Me and my camera in someone else’s country, my U.S.A, my California

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my amsterdam, my wrestling assignment

I was on a stag doo recently in Amsterdam and we stumbled upon this bar on the canal that had a beach and a wrestling ring. I had a ringside view and decided to pretend to be a sports correspondent and cover the event. Why? I’m not entirely sure other than I had never seen a wrestling match live in the flesh before and found it strangely captivating. Pretend violence satisfies a base carnal instinct without anyone getting really hurt. Maybe if there was more wrestling in our lives less people would feel the urge to genuinely harm others. Could wrestling be in fact the answer to world peace? Should we start a campaign? Get some badges done? Get a hashtag? This could be the solution we’ve all been looking for…Dear United Nations, it has recently come to my attention….

To see the full gallery “Dutch Men In Tights – what’s not to like? ” please click here.

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my return trip, my Bergamo

To see the full gallery “BergaMoes&Joes” please click here

Bergamo is situated in northern italy near Milan and is a town of opposites. There seem to be a lot of young people and a lot of old people there but not much in-between. There is also a high town and a low town. The high town is the old ancient town built in the 16th century and sits on top of a big hill and the low town is the modern town built at the foot of the hill. They are connected by a cable car.

In the high town they are always low and in the low town they are always high…

…they’re not really. I just wanted to say that…although some of the residents, especially the older community are very serious looking. Almost comically so. They seem intent on letting everyone know they are unhappy but don’t seem to want to enlighten anyone as to the reason. As The Joker would say…why sooo seriousss?

What is interesting is that the high town has lost tens of thousands of residents in recent years as everyone moves to the low town – the reason? Apparently its because they have terrible phone reception up there. Seriously. This obviously made my talk on people’s dependance of smartphones in the modern era strangely pertinent in this small Italian community.

Bergamo is also a town with more bells going off than anywhere I’ve ever been…they just never seem to stop…it is a terrible place to wake up with a hangover.

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my return trip, my Bergamo

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my return trip, my Bergamo

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my return trip, my Bergamo

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my return trip, my Bergamo

So I just about squeezed out my TED talk on Saturday without any major mishap..I did have a minor brain wobble for about 12 seconds, (i.e. a lifetime) when I momentarily lost my way but managed to veer myself back on course. Fortunately my mouth kept moving which allowed my brain time to work out what the fuck I was actually supposed to be saying. I was praying I might have got away with it but I shouldn’t have worried..I found out after that out of the 500 Italians in the auditorium only 28 had coughed up for translation headsets so there was a good chance that they hadn’t understood a word I said at all and had just seen me waving my arms around for 15 minutes..which was somewhat of a relief.

I will be continuing with my Bergamo theme this week as it is a town full of fantastic looking characters at ever turn..

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my weekend trip, my Bergamo

This week’s photographs were from the beautiful town of Bergamo in Italy. I was there last week for a rehearsal for a TED talk that I am giving there this Saturday afternoon (11th april 3pm GMT +1)  so will be winging my way back there tomorrow.

I am talking on the subject of, yup, you guessed it, The Death of Conversation, so if you want to watch me do my smartphone routine in front an auditorium full of Italians you can watch it live stream on: http://www.tedxbergamo.com. There will be a button that says “Guarda l’evento in streaming” which is Italian for “Have a butchers at this”…Molto Bene!

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my weekend trip, my Bergamo

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my weekend trip, my Bergamo

Me and my camera in someone else’s town, my weekend trip, my Bergamo