One of the great things about living in Singapore is the opportunity to travel to nearby countries. When on these trips I look for people with interesting faces to photograph. Generally this means old people! Their crinkled, lined faces give wonderful depth to photographs and watery, rheumy eyes often add a sparkle to a smiling face.

I try not to rush and spend a few moments chatting to them before I take out the camera. And, if appropriate, I will always buy something from them or offer them a few dollars to say thanks.

I generally shoot these photos with a pretty shallow depth of field (somewhere between f2.8 and f4) which I hope, along with accurate focussing, draws the viewer’s attention to the subject’s eyes - the window to the soul!

A few days ago I was taken to the the fantastic new Gardens by the Bay in Singapore by fellow photographer Stuart Jenner (www.stuartjennerphotography.com). We wanted to capture some pictures of the new space-age structures in the park which support a walkway for visitors. There were also great views as the sun set behind the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

For some photos it was tricky to expose the whole scene correctly as there was such a wide dynamic range from very light areas to very dark areas. This is often the case when a subject is back lit. I therefore decided to bracket five exposures for each set up (each shot having a slightly different shutter speed therefore letting in more or less light). I then combined these shots to create one combined photo in the HDR programme Photomatix.

I’m not usually a fan of HDR, especially the grungy look the photos sometimes have. But I think the ones I’ve posted here work quite well.

Enjoyed a cracking day taking these photos at @surreycricket Oval yesterday. Hosted by @ParagonSM in their fantastic Phil Tufnell VIP Club. Entertaining speeches from the great @StewieCricket @markbutcher72 and of course the very amusing @philtufnell. @njknight78 and Mike Gatting also popped in for a chat with the clients. Congrats to Alistair Cook - always great to see a century, especially from such a good guy.

All Saints Church, Otterhampton, Somerset

My step-father-in-law volunteers for a great organisation, The Churches Conservation Trust, a charity saving at-risk historic churches. He took us to visit All Saints, a church which is no longer in regular use, but is well-maintained and has some interesting features, including a large oil painting and a rickety old organ. The visit was a great opportunity to test the low-light capabilities of my shiny new Nikon D800 and it performed pretty well I think, looking at the images below.