Photos, paintings and sketches from around the world and a nod to Christopher Isherwood

“I am a camera with its shutter open, quiet passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed.”

This is one of my favourite quotes from my of my favourite books and it is about observing people. It comes from the opening pages of Christopher Isherwood’s fantastic novel ‘Goodbye to Berlin’.

When I sit in busy places watching the world go by waiting for a moment which will sum up the scene I am looking at, to capture on film or with a pen and pencil, this quote always goes through my mind.

I don’t hide, I just sit and wait patiently, until people stop noticing me, and start to continue with their daily life… then snap.

And so, it is with a nod to Mr Isherwood that I post a selection of my ‘people watching’ paintings and photographs from my travels in Russia, Syria, Tanzania, Kenya, India, Vietnam, Cuba and Jordan.

Women carrying water from Puskhar Lake in the early morning sun in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India

Teenagers flirting in Moscow, Russia.

Smoking shisha at Jabri House in Damascus, Syria.

Under the blossom Trees in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm – from my Sweden sketchbook.

Friday afternoon in the Souk El-Hamidiyeh, Damascus, Syria.

Boy playing in the afternoon sun on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba Boy playing in the afternoon sun on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba.

Russian paratroopers celebrating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War 2, with the help of a couple of Russian girls, in Moscow

Early morning rush at the market in Hoi An, Vietnam.

Eating Vietnamese street food in Hanoi.

Touched by the hand of Allah on a street in Amman, Jordan.

Boy with shadow in Havana, Cuba

Teenagers in a park in Damascus, Syria.

Sunday Picnic at the HSBC building in Central Hong Kong

Enjoying ice-cream at a parade in La Paz, Bolivia

Old man reading the newspaper in St Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy.

Dreaming of lazy summer afternoons on the banks of Lake Mälaren in Sweden.

Tea and dim sum at the Lock Cha tea house from my Hong Kong Sketchbook.

Shisha shop in Amman, Jordan

Market sellers in Sucre, Bolivia.