Photography: a secret passion

You can't go travelling without a camera. It would be like taking no change of clothes - ok, slight exaggeration there.

My camera occupies a really special place in my life. Well, it lives in a case at the bottom of my bag but, nonetheless, it comes with me everywhere I go. This became a habit after I visited India for the first time in 1998. Although I was only 9 years old there were so many things I wanted to snap and put in a holiday album. Unfortunately, at that time I didn't have a mobile phone and I wasn't responsible enough to be trusted with a camera all to myself. What I saw and did during that holiday sits firmly in my mind as memories now.

I bought my first camera aged 11, it was a polaroid. It was big, silver and I pretty much took it everywhere with me. In all honesty I had got it for a spice girls (remember them?) concert I was going to. But, I ended up using it at every chance I could.

The polaroid was brilliant. A no-nuisance camera. You take the picture and it slides out the bottom on white polaroid photo-ready paper. It was simple and my photo albums were filled up very quickly. It's been over 10 years since I've seen the camera - it's tucked away in the storage room at home.

Since then I've happily moved on to many a camera. At the moment I have a silver Sony Cyber-Shot DSC S930 10.1 MP digital cam. It's small, compact and a bit worn out - now that I've had it for over two years - but, it does the job and it does the job well.

Photography is an area of interest that was born out of a travel experience for me. What I really enjoy is taking photographs of places, people, buildings, sign posts, food.... anything I find worth capturing on holiday. Although I'm no Peter Tsai, Matt Brandon or Basil Pao (some of the best in the game) I take pride in my amateur camera skills and occasionally, meaning very rarely, I take a shot that makes me think 'wow that's great' - when in fact it's probably just ok. But, that's alright with me because photography isn't really about quality and positioning and exposure for me, it's about what's on the other side of the lens and, more importantly, the memories that are sparked when I look at what I've captured.

Here's a slideshow of what I think are some of the best photos my sony cyber-shot has captured. I like to play around with these things so some of the photos have been manipulated in terms of colour and size. What do you think??

Showreel by Shabana Adam on Vuvox

The survey says...

Thanks to all those who completed the 'Travel Talk' survey I posted last week. It was surprising yet great to find that regardless of the financial crisis, over 80 per cent of you took at least one holiday this year and a few were lucky enough to take more than four. Strangely, it's the 18-24's who came out on top as every single person in that age group, who took the survey, had been on at least one holiday this year - as they say, this is the age group with the most disposable income (at 22, I would beg to differ).

There was no doubt about it that the majority of you, a whopping 80 per cent to be exact, preferred beach holidays with cultural (10 per cent) adventurous (5 per cent) and city breaks (5 per cent) just about making the cut.

I got some weird and wonderful answers for the most unusual item you pack to take on holiday, from old sentimental teddy bears to bin bags and bath ducks. However, the prize for most unusual item, hands down, goes to the person who packs, wait for it, a GAS MASK! You heard.

Showing your adventurous side (not!) 75 per cent said New York is the place they would MOST like to be right now - maybe the majority of you are either budding fashionistas or journalists, who knows? Sydney came in second with 10 per cent whereas 5 per cent would rather be living the fast life in India, followed by Cuba, Turkey and Tokyo (which weren't on my list but were chosen as 'other'!).

The survey also found that a majority of you are not too fond of staycations - well not in this partcular Lincolnshire town anyway. Surprise, surprise... Scunthorpe won the title for the place you would LEAST like to be. And in true brit fashion, half of you confessed that you go on holiday simply to relax and, secondly, to top up the tan!

Check out the pie charts below, displaying results to questions 7 and 8!

Thanks again for taking part.

It looks as though Scunthorpe's oceanic climate and industrial charm didn't quite appeal to many of you.

AND

Russia, the world's largest country, with the one of a kind St Basil's Cathedral, is another unpopular choice. 

The result speaks for itself...

Typical Brit holiday success formula - Sun for the tan, Sea for the fun and Sand...well to lay on and build castles. 

Oh, of course, don't forget to throw in a little bit of local culture!