_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.

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On my last trip to Turkey I drove with some friends to the mountain town of Elmali in Southern Turkey to visit the weekly market.  It’s a very traditional Turkish town and away from the hoards of tourists that fill the south coast in the Summer.  We had gone to shop for some local produce but definitely weren’t expecting anything like this!

The young man on the stall was offering slices of it for the turkish equivalent of about 50p per slice but I thought it would be a fitting thankyou present for my Turkish friend who had lent us his car so enquired as to how much the whole thing would cost.

The seller and various sellers on the stalls nearby thought I was completely mad but he agreed to sell it to me, at the bargain price of £16 (much cheaper than a day’s car hire!).

I hadn’t really thought it through though because it was incredibly heavy and it took 3 of us to lug it back through the town to the car amidst much laughter both from us and the many locals who weren’t quite sure what to make of it all!

That was three years ago now, I wonder if my friend’s mum is still slicing off bits to make various dishes………