Sunset On Zanzibar

Nearly 4 years ago, just after i had volunteered in Kenya, myself and the others who had volunteered had a couple weeks free time before our flights home. Naturally one of the places we all wanted to stop off at was Zanzibar. Zanzibar, a little island just off the coast of Tanzania and birth place of Freddie Mercury, is stunning. No other way to put it. The whole island is just, wow. The capital of the island, located on the west, is full of beautiful, winding, cobbled roads that all lead back to the harbour which is surrounded by crystal blue waters. As you travel out of the city in any direction you are guaranteed large stretches of green forest with the blue of the ocean peeking through. Anywhere you go you'll end up on a stretch of golden sand. Definitely the closest thing to paradise i've seen.

As a large group of around 13 of us all ended up at the far north of the island in a place called Kendwa. Little cabins situated on the beach front (with a bar on the beach) made it hard for anyone to leave. The one thing i remember most clearly about my time on Zanzibar though, wasn't the green forests, or the brightness of the ocean, or even the great food, it was the sunset. Every night it would fall directly in front of you and make everything a gorgeous orange hue. In the middle of the beach, just off from the water were two palm trees. Hanging in between was a large hammock. I can honestly say one of my favourite memories was sitting in that hammock with my girlfriend and watching the sunset. (Probably why to this day i love hammocks).

As always remember to check out my Instagram page at peterboothphotography and give me follow! 

AV And Kenya

I wanted to show a couple more photographs i took while i was in Kenya. These photos were taken at the school that i was volunteering at. I've probably mentioned it before but the kids there are just so inquisitive and want to know everything about you and all the things you have. (Such as my camera). This made it a lot easier to capture some portraits, which was made EVEN EASIER by the beautiful natural light seeping in through every gap in the building. While i was there i was teaching P.E and creative arts to some of the older kids, but the teachers were more than happy to let you take over a younger class. 

I took my camera in to try and get some more natural shots of the students and teachers at school going about their business, but when you're one of the first white people they've seen and have this thing that can take their pictures then all relaxed students learning pictures go out the window. I honestly wish i had a wider angled lens at the time as the kids were wanting to get as close as they could.

The company i went with, AV (www.aventure.co.uk), were absolutely amazing. This was the first time i had been away without knowing anyone before i went, but i think that's part of what made it so special. The way i would describe volunteering with AV is like bungee jumping. The jump itself is you having the freedom to do exactly what you want to do in a new environment without having someone constantly there, and immersing your self within a new culture with new people. AV is like the bungee rope. If you need advice, help organising anything, or just a chat, there is always someone on the end of the phone, or someone who can come and visit to make sure everything is ok. If you are ever planning something like this i would highly recommend AV. Without them some of the best things in my life wouldn't have happened. 

Once again just a reminder to visit my Instagram page, peterboothphotography, and give it a follow! I'll be uploading some new stuff very shortly so keep an eye out! 

Grandma's Books

The years my grandma lived with us, i never once saw her read any of the old books she kept in her large, ornate book case. Those books were always locked away with a tiny key, and it always looked as if the slightest touch on the glass would shatter it. All these years later I'm starting to wonder if she even read any of them! 

Just after she passed away i wanted to try and capture it exactly how it has been for nearly 15 years. Using my go to camera, the Canon A1, and a 28mm prime lens to draw in the subject closer, i tried to show the fragility of it all. I only used the natural light pouring in through the window which cast a diffused glare on the glass cabinet while enhancing the shadows. Making the focal point objects through the glass i feel helped show how thin it actually is. 

Just as an added note, when i use my analogue cameras i prefer to only use natural light. This is a personal thing, but i think when you have to think about the aperture and shutter speed you start to think more about how shadows will fall and highlights will show, along with thinking more about the composition of the images. 

Cornwall

A couple of months ago i took a weeks holiday down in a little place in Cornwall, called Trevone, with my girlfriends family. I think it was my second ever time in Cornwall and as soon as i arrived in to the sun soaked beaches i knew exactly why i fell in love with the place the first time i visited. 

It was sunny every day except for one where it wouldn't stop raining for about 24 hours. But when it was sunny my time was spent walking along the beach filled coast, learning to surf, body boarding, taking photographs of nearly everything i could, and getting sunburned. (Wasn't even that hot...) 

Due to wanting to travel light i decided to just take my trusty Canon A1. I pretty much take it wherever i go now. I also brought with me the two types of film i always use now, which is the Agfa Photo Vista Plus 200 colour film, and the Agfa Photo APX 100 black and white film. The Vista Plus film gives really nice green/blue and washed out red tones to the photo. Both of these films are fairly cheap if you bulk buy and can be found on Amazon so you don't have to shell out loads for them.

These are just a small selection of the photographs i took, and more can be seen on my Instagram account at peterboothphotography, so go visit me there and give me a follow, like, and comment if you want! 

Like Birds?

Who doesn't like birds!? Well, a lot of people i think... But this male bullfinch is pretty cute though, right? 

This bright male was pretty playful considering they're normally pretty shy. Being around double the size of tits and finches they are fairly easy to spot, especially as the males have the bright orange chest, with the females being a more of duller brown-orange.

Please visit my instagram page, peterboothphotography, and follow and share! 

If there are any photographs you'd like, let me know and you can buy prints.

New Edits (Family Portrait Of Elephants)

Lately i've been going through my photos from my trip to the Masai Mara and editing some. Some are available to view through peterboothphotography and would love more people to follow and like. The more followers i get, the more people i can share my work with.

The image bellow is a portrait of a family of elephants. They were so friendly and definitely not camera shy! I have more portraits and landscape photographs in monochrome to share so please follow peterboothphotography and leave me lots of lovely comments!

Lone Giraffe

My latest post on my Instagram page is of a giraffe i saw whilst in the Masai Mara. Giraffes are not a rare sight, but they are still beautiful to watch. As this lone giraffe was walking across this plain landscape the photo framed itself. Click here to view my page, peterboothphotography.