The main news is that my updated website has finally gone live and that my next big photographic course at Kew Gardens is on 6th and 7th April.
The other news is that I have settled down finally to turn my photograph and writing from the “On The Trail of The Buddha Tree” trip where 40 schools followed me live from the site where Buddha gained enlightenment near Patna, along the Ganges to Kolkata and then down the length of the Bengal Coast before picking up the final leg of the journey from war-torn northern Sri Lanka to the scared temples at Anuradhapura.
The good thing about the new website is that I am going to be able to showcase my writing and photography by updating the various sections every two weeks. There is a gallery of images which will show a constantly changing set of images. I will also be putting up unpublished writing regularly. To get started I have put up three short stories based on my travels and I will be adding more every fortnight too.
The Pandemic rather restricted what I could do in terms of talks, lectures, and training courses but I am happy to say that I am again offering courses in person. I have put a few examples of photo courses and talks on the site, but I am still happy to create tailor-made walks, talks and courses covering a wide variety of subjects.
I am particularly pleased with my new talk “The A-Z of the Amazing Ash Tree – From Alzheimer’s to Zeus”. It is based on my new book ASH by Reaktion Books and highlights some of the extraordinary facts and stories I unearthed – from the role that the ash tree had in the mythology of the Greeks, Romans and Norse to the importance of ash in the development of settled agriculture, weaponry and transport to its medicinal use which spans over 2000 years from the Greeks, ancient Chinese , North American indigenous peoples and now in the 21st century the fight against diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.