River Sava, Belgrade, Serbia. February 2004.

Belgrade is a hard place to like in many ways. I arrived on the overnight train from Budapest with no Serbian money – actually it was still called Yugoslavian money at the time – to find there were only two ATMs in the Serb capital, and both of them were in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel on the other side of town from the train station. I had to walk to the Intercontinental on a winter morning at -10ºC, feeling pretty grumpy. It turned out to be a quite wonderful walk though.

Karadjordjeva, Belgrade, Serbia. February 2004.

The early morning walk through Belgrade proved to me, yet again, the importance of being able to put out of your mind feelings of frustration or anger and focus on where you are and why you’re there. The light was fabulous and everywhere I looked I saw pictures. Snow always helps with black and white, of course. It gives your pictures a built-in impact.

River Sava, Belgrade, Serbia. February 2004.

The distinct geometry of the world we inhabit becomes very obvious from an elevated vantage point. Sometimes this seems like cheating to me, after all, I want to capture the world the way I see it, not the way it looks from some unusual perspective. It’s why I don’t use short or long lenses, and why I’m not interested in macro or aerial photography. In this case I was walking up a bridge ramp and this is simply what I saw looking over the edge – so I think it’s allowed.

Vlădila, Romania. February 2005.

The people who live in rural Romania are almost universally poor by western European standards. Cars are rare and the horse and cart is a common sight. Yet, typically in such places, the people are among the most charming and good humoured I’ve ever met. In February there isn’t too much for the people to do apart from gather fuel, so they were very happy to hang around and chat with a curious foreign photographer.

Heldenplatz, Vienna, Austria. January 2004.

Vienna in the snow. The flakes were huge and falling so gently that, when they landed, they barely seemed to touch the snow already lying. The Viennese take to the snow like it’s their natural element. Fabulous coats and hats, special boots, they look wonderful as they move through the glamorous backdrop of their city centre. Taking pictures in the snow has it’s own dangers – snow flakes are far worse than raindrops for getting water inside the camera and wreaking havoc.

Petroşani, Romania. February 2005.

The great thing about dogs as subjects is that, while they might think the guy pointing a camera at them is interesting for a few seconds, they soon realise it’s pretty boring from a canine point of view and get back to their doggy preoccupations. This one had found a fascinating bin and could only spare the time to give me a quick stare before getting back to work.