"A world of pictures for work and pleasure" bzh's Profile

I was born in France but have lived abroad for 8 years now, mainly in London, UK. It all started because my dad has always been travelling for his job and has always brought back home strange stuff from remote countries. I reckon he gave me the travel bug gene. As a result, nowadays, I would never consider staying at home for a holiday, I have to go somewhere. That's the pleasure part.

As for the work part, well, being a software architect doesn't necessarilly take you to the end of the world. So, the last time I was looking for a job and was asked "would you mind travelling?", it didn't take me long to sign on the dotted line. The result is after 3 years, I have been to a lot of places I would never have seen, nor even consider going to, thanks to work.

My most complete pages
Although I try to be thorough on my pages, some are more complete than others. Logically, the ones that are the most comprehensive and most up to date are the place where I live, London and the place where I was born, Brest along with all the rest of my Bretagne pages.

My next trips
Abu Dhabi, UAE [Apr 21-31] Business trip and a VT page when I come back.
Helsinki, Finland [May 6] One day business trip. I'm considering staying the whole week-end though because the Monday is a holiday for the UK.
Brest, France (home!) [June 19-22] One of my childhood friends is getting married!
Warsaw - Gdynia (Poland) - Turko (Finland) - Riga (Latvia) [Jul 19-Aug 11] Holidays, taking part in the 2003 Cutty Sark tall ship races. Hopefully, lots of VT pages and a travelogue when I come back.

Sunset on the Breton coast

If my first passion is travelling, the second one is photography. Everywhere I go, I have to have a camera with me. I will adapt the equipment depending on where I'm going, how much I can pack, whether I'm going for holidays or business, etc.

The lightest equipment I have is a small Olympus digital camera. But when I can travel heavy, here comes the SLR, with a collection of lenses, flashguns, filters et al. In that respect, I have found a lot of useful information in the Lonely Planet Travel Photography guide so I would recommend it to anybody who wants to take good pictures while on the move.

Now, having all this equipment doesn't mean I'll come back with fantastic pictures. It's very easy to take bad shots with professional hardware. But I try my best and I hope you will enjoy the pictures when you go through my travel pages.

Unless otherwise stated, the pictures on my pages are my own. If you want to see more photographs taken by myself and a few other people, go to http://gallery.hd.org. You are welcome to use the pictures on that site or on my VT pages.

Ketch seen from dundee Mutin

Being born next to the sea, I have always needed salted water. In fact you might notice that most of my pages involve water at one point or another. In particular I love sailing. But the most fantastic experience I have had has been sailing on tall ships, large traditional sailing ships from another era. I believe that such ships are the most elegant mode of transport men have ever created. There is a grace in those cathedrals of sails that is unique.

Detail of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Out of all the places I've been to, here are my favourites:

Norway I just love the place and the people.
Cuba Salsa, rum, sun, fantastic people, the island has it all
Cape Town Once again a superb place and the South Africains are so welcoming!
Sydney Ah, sailing in the harbour...
Riga Only 2 days but so much fun!
Barcelona One word: Gaudi
Bangalore The food there... just unbelievable...
Brittany The place where I was born, it is absolutely beautiful

Main square, Trinidad, Cuba

In no particular order, these are all the places I'd like to go to:

Europe
Finland The last country in Scandinavia I haven't been to so I need to correct that mistake
Austria The last country in the EU I haven't been to, apart from Finland
Russia Well,Russia is Russia, it should be seen I believe
The rest of it Every single country in Europe deserves a visit I reckon

Middle East
Petra, Jordan I've seen the pictures, heard the people speak of it... I want to go
Lebanon I have Lebanese friends and everyone who's been there told me it was a fantastic place
Iran Ancient Persia, a country I want to go to more and more each time I read or hear about it: Persepolis, Esfahan...

Asia
India Last time was really too short...
Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia, etc. All places that have tremendous appeal

Africa
Senegal My grandmother lived in Ziguinchor a few years when she was young so I want to see it
Morocco, Tunisia The Sahara desert
Sudan Ancient Nubia, where the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers meet
South Africa The one trip I did to this country was really too short

America
Mexico, Peru, Argentina, etc. The ancien civilisations of South America

Oceania
New Zealand I knew NZ was beautiful. I just didn't realise how much until I saw the Lord of the Rings.

Extreme places
Greenland, Svalbard The ultimate Arctic experience
Antarctica The stories of Scott, Admundsen and others make me want to see the white continent