Over the last few years I've been fortunate enough to visit some wonderful places, and have tried as often as possible to take my camera with me. As a result, almost unintentionally, I've ended up with some photographs that I really love, and hopefully other people might enjoy too. I've been putting pictures on the web for years now, but there's so much to trawl through that the really good pictures tend to get a bit buried. So, I thought I'd put together a gallery of some of my favourites for you all to enjoy...

All pictures are copyright (c) by me, John Hawkins. They were taken with a variety of Sanyo digital cameras, and are completely unedited except where noted. For any further information, please feel free to get in touch with me at the address below.

	A View from the Tate Modern May 2001, London, England. I was visiting the Tate Modern with Vera, my Grandmother, the day I took this. It was a lovely bright day, and this picture has come out really vibrant. The Tate Modern has a special significance for me - my Grandad worked there for a time when it was Bankside Power Station. Sadly my Grandad died when I was very young, and I never really had a chance to know him. However, I love the thought that he would have wandered along some of the same corridors that I do when I go there, and that maybe he stood at one of these windows and enjoyed the same view.
	An Sgurr Through the Heather July 2001, Isle of Eigg, Scotland. An Sgurr is the distinctive mountain that defines the shape of the Isle of Eigg, in the Inner Hebrides. I loved the colours here, the purples and greens of the heather and grasses, the blue sky, and the soft grey of the rock. More...
	Bardsey Island October 2002, As viewed from Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula, North Wales. Taken just before sunset. Although the sunset itself wasn't anything to shout about that day, it did give the sky a nice sort of goldish colour, which I think worked really well against the silhouette of a slightly lonely looking Bardsey Island. I took lots of pictures to get this right, and in the end settled for this one. I think what I like about it is the total absenceof the mainland - it's just Bardsey, the sea and the sky. The light made the distinction between sea and sky quite weak, so it's almost like Bardsey is floating in nothingness. More...
	Beating The Retreat June 2001, London, England. I'm told this is similar to Trooping The Colour. Not normally my cup of tea really, but I got some nice pictures out of it. The sky looked really ominous, and the contrast between the moody blues and greys of the sky, with the bright red uniforms, not to mention the imposing skyline made for a really striking photo.
	Bournemouth Pier January 2002, Bournemouth, England. A more professional photographer would probably discard this picture because of the glare from the sun. In fact, that's exactly what I like about this picture! That, and the sunlight glinting on the water, and the almost silhouetted pier. More...
	Brighton Pier February 2002, Brighton, England Chie and I had gone to Brighton to buy some vegetarian shoes, and we had a great day out - Brighton has turned into a really fantastic place (or maybe it always was like that). As with the previous picture, I like this one mainly just because Chie is in it, and looking really happy. I also like the lighting, perhaps surprisingly. It was just starting to get dark, and that, with the rough sea, and the lights of the pier created quite an unusual set of colours.
	Carousel May 2001, Sacre Coeur, Paris, France. We went to Paris totally on a whim one weekend. When we got there, we realised we'd made no plans, and so didn't really know what to do. We ended up walking to the first place that came to my mind - Montmartre. This is the famous carousel at the foot of the steps to Sacre Coeur. Amelie hadn't been released in the UK at this point, so I had no idea at the time I was taking a picture of one of the settings for what was to become one of my favourite films ever. I guess in restrospect that gives this picture a special significance for me.
	Charmouth Bay August 2001, West Dorset, England. The beach here is a great place to go looking for fossils. I was here with Chie and a few friends, all of us wanting to get away from urban sprawls of the South East for the weekend. I really like the kind of gentle haziness in this picture, which captures really well the general mood of the day.
	Dartmouth Harbour March 2002, Dartmouth, Devon, England. A bit of a curious picture, taken from the little fortified bit in Dartmouth, looking across the harbour. Sometimes I look at this picture and wonder what the bloody great bit of stone is doing ruining the left hand side, and then sometimes I think that is exactly what makes it. I guess the jury is out.
	Floating Bottle July 2001, The River Thames, somewhere near Reading. Taken during a lazy afternoon, when myself and Chie went for a barbeque by the side of the Thames. Actually Chie took this (fairly obviously as I'm in it!). I'd tried the same thing a couple of times with her throwing the bottle in the air and it hadn't quite worked - I guess she has better reactions than me! It doesn't look quite real does it? Somehow the bottle seems perfectly focused and motionless, as though it is hooked on to one of those wonderful clouds or something.
	Ginkakuji April 2002, Kyoto, Japan. The silver temple. Definitely well worth a visit if you're ever in Kyoto! I think this was the third temple I'd visited on this particular day, so I'd begun to get a bit templed out. It probably wasn't until sometime afterwards, taking a look back through the pictures, that I realised how wonderful this place is. More...
	Hampstead Rooftops (1) September 2001, Hampstead, London, England. I stood (somewhat dangerously) on the roof of my flat, when I used to live in Hampstead, to take this picture. I think it gives a good idea of what a lovely place Hampstead is - the houses, the greenery, and the general feeling that you're in a village, rather than just a few minutes away from the centre of one of the biggest cities in the world.
	Hampstead Rooftops (2) February 2001, Hampstead, London, England. Almost the same picture as before, but you can see the contrast in greenery caused by the time of year. I think this and the previous picture need to sit together to really appreciate the effect - the building in the foreground is of course the same in both pictures, but the change in light, and the constrast with the rest of the hues make it look a totally different colour.
	Kinkakuji April 2001, Kyoto, Japan. The gold temple. This is Chie's sister, Kana, in the foreground, who did a brilliant job as a tour guide for the day while her sister went to a job interview. Actually, I think the picture she took beforehand was better composed. It's quite probable that everyone who has visited Kinkakuji with a camera has a near identical picture, but I am very fond of mine nonetheless. More...
	La Rochelle Harbour July 2000, La Rochelle, France. It's probably considered a bit touristy, but I absolutely loved my holiday in La Rochelle with Chie. This picture of the harbour ought to be instantly recognisable to anyone who has also been there.
	Leaning Traffic Light September 2001, Hampstead, London, England. This former church is now Air Studios, where apparently George Michael used to record. It was close to my flat when I lived in Hampstead, and this was the standard fact I always had to bore people with when they came to visit for the first time. Mainly though, I rather like this picture because it looks like it was taken at the instant an accident was happening - I just happened to catch the rather blurry blue car there as the front of it's bumper was level with the bent traffic light.
	London Skyline January 2001, Primrose Hill, London. One of many pictures of London skylines I've taken from Hampstead and the surrounding area. I like the detail here - you can quite clearly make out London Zoo, the BT tower and the London Eye, as well as St. Paul's Cathedral and a few other familiar London landmarks. More...
	New Year's Day on Porlock Hill January 2002, Porlock Hill, Exmoor, Somerset, England. This was our view in the morning after spending new year's eve in a camper van at 10 degrees below zero. Having parked at night, we had no idea what we were looking out over, and so the views in the morning were a fantastic surprise. More...
	Red Phonebox June 2002, Near Penallt Old Church, South Wales. One of the first pictures I took with my third camera. I was messing about with the colour adjustment settings and achieved this rather pleasing result. No doubt anyone else in Britain with the same feature on their camera has taken pretty much the same picture!
	Regent's Park Open Air Theatre August 2001, London, England. Not a hugely exciting picture - photographs weren't allowed during the performance (quite reasonably I suppose), and so this is the closest thing I have to a photographic record of what was an absolutely magical evening. Still though, there's just something I really liked about the stage, the amphitheatre style seating, and all the trees behind. The play was the one possibly best suited to outdoor performance - A Midsummer Night's Dream.
	Rum, from Eigg August 2002, Isle of Eigg, Scotland. Rum is the largest of those islands in the Inner Hebrides known as the small islands (or sometimes the cocktail islands). From Eigg, the second largest, it often looks very forboding, especially as clouds have a habit of gathering over it. This probably isn't the best picture I've taken of Rum, the light was a bit uninteresting on the day in question. Still though, despite the slightly dull colours there is a certain something about it I really like. More...
	Shrine on Mt. Misen May 2002, Mt. Misen, Miyajima, Japan. It was a surpisingly tough walk to the top of Mt. Misen on the island of Miyajima, mostly made difficult by the hot weather. But it was well worth it, as there were some stunning views to be seen. Also you're constantly reminded what a holy place Miyajima is, with shrines and figurines dotted all the way along the steep path to the top. I took a huge number of pictures on this walk, but this is probablymy favourites, perhaps because it says something about both aspects of Miyjima - the spiritual side, as well as the natural beauty of the place. More...
	Statue in Antwerp March 2001, Antwerp, Belgium This is some square or other in Antwerp. I can't remember the name. It's not a particularly exciting picture (although to me of course Chie always looks cute so I automatically like anything she's in). I've only really included this out of bloody mindedness - this was my second visit to Belgium, which does boast some pretty nice architecture, and I just refused to admit I didn't have at least one half decent picture somewhere.
	Sunrise Over the Llyn Peninsula August 1999, Mynydd Enlli, Bardsey Island. I never grow tired of these magical sunrises. They somehow don't seem quite real - I don't know if this is to do with the definition of the camera or what. Still though, this looks more like a painting, you'll just have to take my word for it that it is a real photograph...! We stayed out all night to catch these pictures, and it was definitely worth it. More...
	Sunset over Malpensa Airport August 2001, Malpensa Airport, Milan, Italy. The day I was due to fly back from Milan, a storm broke. On the downside, this caused my flight to be delayed by several hours. On the plus side, it created a very dramatic sky, and a really wonderful sunset. There's a subtle kind of magic in this picture, which you can probably only appreciate fully if you look at it full size. The assorted trappings of an airport in the foreground make for a really unusual landscape, and a weird contrast to the very intense horizon. More...
	Sunset Over Parliament Hill September 2001, Parliament Hill, London, England. Hampstead was a fantastic place to live for green areas. Parliament Hill is at one corner of the famous heath, and gives some great views out over London. Here though, I'm facing in the opposite direction to catch a slight hint of a sunset. There's something gentle, simple yet wonderful about this picture. It looks like the path leads off to infinity, but thankfully, there's a little bench to rest yourself along the way there.
	Sunset over Reading Festival August 1999, Reading, England. Nice pictures can crop up in the most unlikely of places. In a brief pause between the pictures of drunken antics at Reading Festival one year, there just happened to be a really nice sunset. Noone else seemed to appreciate it. You don't really get that sort of crowd at Reading I guess. Had it been Glastonbury, people probably would have made the effort to bend their necks. More...
	Swiss Lake and Mountains August 2001, Monte Generose, somewhere near the border with Italy, Switzerland. I was actually on holiday in Italy at the time, and hadn't really expected to be in Switzerland at any point. As it happens, my friend Lorenzo lived just a short drive from the border. I love the colour here - it's just so blue. Also the fact that the mountains in the distance look just like the way you used to draw them when you were a kid. More...
	The Gardens at Chishaku-In April 2002, Kyoto, Japan. I'd stayed the night with Chie in Chishaku-In, a Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, and early the next morning we went to see the monks praying. This was a wonderful experience. Better still, after morning prayers, we were given a tour of the temple gardens. There was an incredible feeling of serenity here, and every time I see this picture I am taken back there. Apparently, the gardens were modelled on a Chinese landscape, even to the point of colouring the water. More...
	The Zen Garden at Ryoanji April 2001, Kyoto, Japan. This was the first time I'd ever seen a Zen garden first hand, and this is probably one of the most famous. To be honest, when I first got there, I wasn't really sure what I was looking at. But after a few minutes quitely contemplating it, I grew to love it, although I have no real idea why. I don't think this is a particularly fantastic picture of it, but still, I like to think it does give a good idea of the subtle yet powerful imagery of the place. More...
	View From the Top of St. Paul's Cathedral March 2002, London, England Yoko, Chie's Mum, had wanted to walk all the way to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, and managed to quitely show us up - myself and Chie were utterly exhausted by the time we got to the very top, but Yoko was barely out of breath. The view from the top was, understandably, really excellent. I think I particularly like looking down on London, as you're so often buried in it, and can normally only see your immediate surroundings.