On Sunday, London’s West End became a colourful and vibrant scene for the Chinese New Year celebrations in London. Despite the bad weather, people didn’t seem to have been put off coming into Chinatown and Trafalgar Square to welcome in the Year of the Snake.

A large crowd in the streets enjoyed the parade and then food from the outdoors stalls which had been set up in front of the restaurants. Down in Trafalgar Square, various artists performed for an equally large but damp crowd.

This is the second year that I have manage to photograph these celebrations in some quite challenging conditions … it is never easy shooting in the rain and trying to keep your gear dry. Having said that it was good fun and I was joined by my friend, John Chandler who I hadn’t seen for a while. A selection of my best images from this year can be found in my Chinese New Year 2013 – The Year of the Snake gallery. Please have a look and let me know what you think.

I had a great day out yesterday at the London Ice Sculpting Festival in Canary Wharf. There were talented sculptors from the UK, USA, France, Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Latvia, Belgium and Portugal producing amazing works of art from ice. They created a wide variety of sculptures depicting Wonders Of The Universe out of a gleaming 2-metre block of ice.

The winner of the doubles sculpting event was the team from UK who produced the beautiful work shown in this image (left).

I am back in Bangkok before starting out on the Steve Davey’s Laos & Vietnam photo tour next Wednesday. This time I am staying in the older part of Bangkok where all the backpackers seem to be and not far from the Grand Palace. Having flown in yesterday, it was an early start today around sunrise at 6am and I wasn’t sure what I would photograph.

As I wandered round the local area, it was much quieter than the night before but a few folks had seemed to have partied through the night. So I turned towards the Grand Palace and stumbled upon a few runners … and then more runners which given that it must already have been 30 degrees centigrade seemed mad to me. Eventually, there was a sign … ah it was the Bangkok Marathon so I decided to walk along the route up to the Grand Palace.

It wasn’t a surprise that this marathon is held very early in the morning because I doubt anyone would survive the heat later in the day. I was hot just walking along so congratulations to all those that completed the course which finished in front of the Grand Palace … a spectacular backdrop for the event.

A great day out yesterday participating the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk – a great idea to get photographers everywhere out shooting and socialising. Photography doesn’t need to be a lone pursuit – it can be enjoyed with fellow photographers.

Many thanks must go to Stephen Cotterell who organised the walk along the River Thames from the Royal Festival Hall to London Bridge. It was an interesting journey along the Thames as it was also the day chosen to be World Zombie Day so there were floods of Zombies making their way in the opposite direction to us. Many of the them were very scary too!

Finally, I recommend that you check out our organiser’s podcast, Photography 121 with Stephen Cotterell with can be found in the Apple iTunes Store.

Just another amazing weekend that the Bristol International Balloon Fiestaheld at Ashton Court Estate. It was a great pleasure to have met up with lots of the ballooning friends that I met last year and of course to meet some new people too.

My enormous thanks to Gary Davies who is an amazing pilot that I was lucky enough to fly with again … the photographs from our fantastic 1 hour 20 minutes flight from Ashton Count to Yatton passing Bristol airport can be found in my new BIBF 2012 Balloon Flight gallery. I must also mention the great crew that Gary has which make all this possible … thank you all of you!

I am working my way through the rest of the images of the Balloon Fiesta that I have and will be posting some more images in another gallery in the next week or so.

The great weather continued for the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta mass launch on Friday evening with 102 balloons launching. I was flying with Gary Davies who is an amazing pilot and great fun to fly with – we were flying his balloon “Zenith” and there first to launch after the go ahead have been given. This gave us a great view of the other balloons launching (see left).

Our flight took us south-west of Bristol across some woods, a golf course, two quarries and parallel to Bristol Airport. After 1 hour 20 minutes of flying, we finally landed in a sports filed in Yatton which is approximately 10 miles from Bristol. many thanks to the the local residents who turned out to watch us land … a perfect landing Gary! Whilst we waited for our retrieval vehicle, all the local kids (and the odd adult) took turned getting in the basket whilst parents or friends photographed them. We also had the privilege of meeting a wonderful 92 year old lady who also came out to see us and was very interested in the balloon.

Many thanks again Gary for an amazing flight … you are a top bloke!

It was great weather this morning for the mass launch at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta this morning. Over 80 balloons were launched with a wide variety of clouds and a few special shapes too. As always the launch field was crowded and everyone was in good spirits. If you like chocolate, then the pick of the bunch must have been the Choc Dip balloon pictured left.

In amongst all the balloons, vehicles and trailers, i managed to find and meet up with some of the friends that I made at last year’s fiesta. It was great to see them again and I am sure that we will have longer to chat over the weekend. This evening I will be flying with Gary again and it looks like it will be near perfect conditions … fingers crossed for an amazing flight!

I have just posted a new gallery showing the Chinese New Year celebrations in Trafalgar Square and Chinatown from last Sunday.

Today, I had been planning to visit the Wildlife & Wetlands Trust in Barnes, London but then it was suggested that we go up to Trafalgar Square and China Town to see the Chinese New Year celebrations. My trip to shoot wildlife especially birds will have to wait until next weekend … hopefully the weather will be ok then.

There are a lot of people in Trafalgar Square watching various acts on the stage and In the streets around China town, there are a number of food stalls outside the shops and restaurants alongside the queues to get into the restaurants. Along Gerrard Street, there were chinese dragons bringing New Year greetings to each shop or restaurant along the street. It was so busy that photographing the dragons was challenging – I know what it may be like for the press photographers.

I have been struggling to keep up with my post processing over the summer with lots of studio and event shoots every week. I know it is entirely my fault and I have just about managed it with the exception of two particular shoots – Laos & Cambodia and London Pride.

Well I have finally managed to complete my London Pride 2011 gallery which brought make many happy memories of an absolutely fantastic day back in July. It was a beautiful sunny day with the streets of London packed with happy people who enjoyed being photographed.

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