_In 2007 whilst on my three month train trip around Europe I met up with a Turkish photographer in Istanbul for the day. Wherever I travel to I like to meet up with local people so I can gain an insight into local culture and also I get to see all the ‘off the beaten track’ places that tourists don’t venture to. This shot was taken in The Grand Bazaar, admittedly quite a well known place for tourists but with more than 58 covered streets and over 4000 shops there is no way I would have found this guy on my own, I definitely needed the knowledge of a local! His shop was really quite tiny, thankfully I had my wide angle lens with me which allowed me to get this shot.

He was really quite a shy man and not comfortable in front of the camera so I waited a while and then captured this moment when he sat down and had a ponder. It’s looking at photos like these that make me realise how lucky I am to be able to travel the world and meet such interesting and different people.

_The one thing I really enjoy about travelling with my camera is the people that I meet, people that I would never otherwise come across.  For some the camera is a bit intimidating but for others it raises a curiousity and allows an introduction in.  I met this woman in the mountain town of Scanno in the Abruzzo region of Italy whilst she was out for her daily walk. I asked if I could sit with her and we chatted for about half an hour.  I say ‘chatted’, my Italian at the time was minimal and she spoke in a very heavy dialect but I was able to understand that she was 95 years old, had been married since she was 15 and had, a couple of months previously, lost her husband.  She showed me a laminated photo of him she had with her from the funeral with a description on the back of how he was her Angel.  It was incredibly touching.

I am glad I hadn’t taken her photo before talking to her and waited until after, we had made a connection and I think this comes out in the photograph - it is one of my favourites.