Blog posts about forest at Permanent Tourist

Taking ourselves on a walk in the blissful isolation of the forests of Jura.

Wide vistas with blue skies and imposing mountains may be good camera fodder, but they can also become a bit monotonous.

Lake shore and boardwalk at Étang de la Gruère

A little bit of the Scottish Highlands in Switzerland.

Jo took me to visit Loch an Eilein, in the Rothiemurchus estate, during one of my first trips to Scotland way back in 2005. I love pine forests and, in particular, Scots pines, so I was in my element there. The walk around the loch is an easy one, ranging 4-5 miles over pretty unchallenging […]

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Hiking in the rain along an unexpectedly steep route from the viewpoint above Interlaken.

One of the most challenging hikes I’ve done: up the steep and winding path through the forest from Beatenberg to the summit of the Niederhorn.

I took a walk up through the woods from Heimwehfluh, near Interlaken. The top of the walk, after half an hour or so of wheezing and muscle aching, was high above the end of Lake Thun. Aside from enjoying the walk, having some exercise, and enjoying the view, I also discovered that the golf course […]

Jo and I took a stroll around the Ballenberg open air museum on her birthday weekend a couple of weeks ago. The museum and its buildings are officially open to the public between April and October, but the site, its paths and woodlands are left accessible after the business closes up for the winter. It’s a […]

I really like Austria (at least, the little I’ve seen of it just recently). We were on the border between Bavaria and Tyrol for our anniversary and it was the first time I’d done more than pass through a narrow sliver of the country on the south-eastern tip of Lake Constance to photograph a wedding. […]

As I was running ahead of time when returning to the airport after my recent trip to Yorkshire, I decided to take a break in my journey at an interesting spot en route. Seeing the signs from the motorway to Sherwood Forest, I decided to divert to the visitor centre, take a stroll through the […]

Travelling, even in my own country, has given me much more interest in the places which many pass by, giving them little thought as they are so familiar. A small Forestry Commission car park at the side of the road not far from Inverness offers a place to stop at one such place: the “Clootie […]

A panoramic view of the snow-laden alps above the autumnally beautiful forests near Interlaken in Switzerland.

Photos from a day on the road, travelling a total of around 720 kilometres from our home in Switzerland to the Black Forest in southern Germany.

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Shallow depth of field brings a special feeling to a photograph, altering scale and reality so it looks just a little unusual. By setting a wider aperture in your camera, the depth of field will become smaller and the areas nearer to and further away from the camera will be more and more out of […]

One of my favourite aspects of our home in Spiez is the fact that we have such interesting and ever-changing views across the town and up to the wood behind our house. It’s particularly lovely to look out of the windows late at night, when neighbouring homes are sinking into darkness and when the surrounding […]

Jo and I visit the alpine lake of Oeschinensee, in a mountain valley above Kandersteg, and take a dip to cool ourselves off.

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Jo takes a break on our walk along the lake to Faulensee from home.

That was the idea, anyway. I’ve been inspired by Nick Turpin’s street shots, using high, undiffused strobes, and have been experimenting on and off with the technique. This is a shot from this evening in the woods near my home, which uses a single flashgun on a 3 metre stand out of shot to the […]