We'll keep this simple: If you use my photos without my permission, I will castrate you, or do some sort of bodily harm to you. Seriously, though, I do ask for the courtesy of sending me a request for the use of any of my images (if an image is marked as Creative Commons, then I do expect appropriate notification and attribution).

The genres of photography I like most are (in no particular order): nature, wildlife, scenic, landscape, travel, surrealist.

I've worked in telecom for 20+ years, and it's time for a change.

Writing is my passion (I read and write science fiction, fantasy, and sometimes horror). I've had a dozen non-fiction articles published, but no fiction... YET!

TOWNSHENDE is the archaic spelling of my surname. I like archaic things. (Some alternative spellings are: Townsend, Townshend, Townesend, Tounesend. They are all related to the phrase which they look like and from which they originate: town's end. That is also how it is pronounced, with the 's' said like a 'z'.)

I was raised as an Air Force brat. By the time I turned 18 I had spent more than half of my life overseas and I had come to view the U.S. as just another foreign country. It was a lifestyle that left me permanently infected with a love of travel. In fact, if I don't make a point to travel regularly, I end up moving around a lot. The idea of staying in one place without any sort of travel whatsoever gives me a zany sort of claustrophobia. So far, (because I'm not done yet! :P ) I have lived in and/or visited 18 different countries (including the U.S.) on three different continents. They are:

• Canada

• England (lived there — during my high school years)

• France

• Germany (lived there — for a short period during my own enlistment in the Air Force)

• Greece (lived there — during my enlistment)

• Guam (technically a U.S. Territory, but it's not a U.S. State so I include it on this list)

• Ireland

• Italy

• Japan (lived there — during my pre-school and kindergarten years)

• Philippines

• Portugal (which I've visited every year since 2005)

• Scotland

• South Vietnam (back when it was still called South Vietnam, during the war)

• Spain

• Thailand (lived there, during the war in Vietnam — my junior high school years)

• Turkey

• United States (see below)

• Wake Island (also a U.S. Territory, but it's included for the same reason as Guam)

• Wales

In the U.S., I've lived in and/or visited 38 of the 50 States, and hope to complete the circuit sometime soon.

Lived in 5 different countries on 3 different continents. Visited 11 others (total of 16 — 7.11%)

Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe Osinga project

Visited and/or Lived in 38 states (76%)

Create your own visited map of The United States or another interesting project