My first SLR (late 1970s) was a Praktica with (I realise now) a stupendous Carl Zeiss 50mm prime lens. When several inches of spider web grew on the surface of that lens (the danger of living in a tropical climate) I moved to a 35mm Canon EOS500n. That was OK but my intro to digital was through a very neat Sony Cybershot Compact.

Then the pennies stretched to a Canon 400D, and while the kit lenses were great, later I bought a Canon EF 17-40 f/4 USM zoom and in summer 2008 a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens. I still have 75-300mm zoom which is still only just oiver £120 and its great.

I love travelling and my work has made that possible, and I always take my camera. My main subject seems to be people, and especially their faces. The face illustrates more than anything else the beauty and variety of God's creation.

So here is a map showing about 66 countries visited so far. It's a bit of a cheat of course - three days in Hong Kong and the whole of China gets coloured in! Whatever - it's a tough life but someone's got to go!

I live in Didcot, Oxfordshire now.

visited 62 states (27.5%)Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe

I have visited India more than any other country - but still vast spaces to see.

visited 13 states (37.1%)