Travels with My Hat is a memoir of my adventures as a travel writer
in Africa, South Asia and the Arab world. Beautifully designed, it is lavishly illustrated with
photographs and maps and includes poignant correspondence with my mother who had never left Australia.
GREAT MOMENTS IN TRAVEL
When I would think, well this is what I've come for and the physical and psychological demands of the effort to get here, are now worth it...
MY MOROCCO
When I first set foot in Morocco as a young backpacker in the 1960s,
I was captivated by the ever changing desert and mountain scenery, its colourful peoples
and fascinating souqs. My book Collins Independent Travellers Guide to Morocco was published in 1990.
WORLD WATER DAY
Some 1.3 billion people in the world lack access to clean water. Women and children spend an estimated 200 million hours a day hauling water, often over great distances from the source. Here Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa, one of the driest places on earth.
Photo Library Collections
Thousands of images covering travel, culture and religions can be found in Christine Osborne Pictures and the World Religions Photo Library
Here are some photographs taken on one of my trips to Pakistan. There will be black and white images, as well as colour, in my forthcoming book Travels with My Hat.
I came upon these women filling water jars in the Desert Canal. They walk miles there and then back again, balancing the heavy jars on their heads. Amazing.
Here are more people carrying loads. This time in Baltistan. The man and his wife are carrying fuel for cooking and heating in their modest home in the Khaplu Valley.
A fisherman loading his camels on the Makran Coast of Baluchistan. A scene barely changed from 100 years ago.
When I was out early, taking pictures in Peshawar, I passed this group of cart-drivers having breakfast in a corner of the bazaar.
A Kutchi nomad family in Swat moving south to winter in Sindh. Their worldly possessions are carried on two donkeys.
These men are tenderly holding partridges in the bird market in Quetta. In the absence of other entertainment, partridge fights remain popular in Baluchistan.
Mohana fishing families on the Indus river in Sukkur, keep pet birds to fish when bad weather prevents the boats from putting out. A string tied to one leg prevents the birds escaping.
A procession of ox-carts heading to a tribal wedding. The women are wearing the all enveloping burqa, A roadside scene near Dera Ghazi Khan.
A beggar posing as a Sufi penitent is hoping for alms from pilgrims visiting a shrine in Multan, a town in Punjab.
About Travels with My Hat
Australian photojournalist and author. Used London as a base for nearly forty years while freelancing in the Middle East, Arabian peninsular, Africa and South Asia. Have written and illustrated more than a dozen books and travel guides. Operates a well regarded religious images stock photo library: www.worldreligions.co.uk. Live in Leura in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney.
Thank you. The rural poor do work hard and after the terrible floods of 2010-11, it is sad to read that this year’s monsoon
has inundated many areas with resultant loss of human and animal life, and the destruction of crops.
I’ve travelled extensively in India but never to Pakistan, so find your photos especially interesting to view. I love seeing photography that shows people and places and like the fact you seem to have captured people at ease, in their natural surroundings
Thank you Stuart. It becomes harder to achieve “natural photographs” with everyone now holding up a mobile phone to snap away. But I doubt that much has changed in Pakistan which, due to its reputation, sees next to no tourists. It is one of the most photogenic countries I have visited on my travels. My book which is heavily illustrated is still on sale on Amazon “An Insight and Guide to Pakistan”.
Wonderful photos – I like the B&W. What easy lives we all lead now. I liked the leitmotif of hard work
Thank you. The rural poor do work hard and after the terrible floods of 2010-11, it is sad to read that this year’s monsoon
has inundated many areas with resultant loss of human and animal life, and the destruction of crops.
I’ve travelled extensively in India but never to Pakistan, so find your photos especially interesting to view. I love seeing photography that shows people and places and like the fact you seem to have captured people at ease, in their natural surroundings
Thank you Stuart. It becomes harder to achieve “natural photographs” with everyone now holding up a mobile phone to snap away. But I doubt that much has changed in Pakistan which, due to its reputation, sees next to no tourists. It is one of the most photogenic countries I have visited on my travels. My book which is heavily illustrated is still on sale on Amazon “An Insight and Guide to Pakistan”.