There’s a particular moment in Fes when the medina exhales—when the last threads of morning chill pull back and the day’s rhythm begins to sharpen. The mullah’s calls have dwindled and the sounds of the streets filter above the ancient stone walls. It’s in these quiet, golden moments that the city reveals itself to the patient photographer. Fes is a labyrinth of centuries-old craftsmanship, intricate geometric design, and spirited street life, and wandering its lanes with a camera in hand feels like stepping through a living tapestry.

The Laowa D-Dreamer 10mm f/2.8 is an extraordinary piece of glass. It’s not just another wide-angle lens — it’s ultra-wide, rectilinear, and capable of producing images with impressive sharpness and minimal distortion. Designed for photographers who thrive on creative extremes, this lens offers a truly unique perspective that few others can match.

I’ve just returned from an incredible week-long photographic workshop on the island of Madeira — an extraordinary island off the coast of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. Despite its small size the island is host to a phenomenally diverse range of landscape locations. Our small group based ourselves in the quiet coastal town of São Vicente on the northern coastline, an ideal central location that allowed us to reach almost every corner of the island with no more than an hour and a half’s drive. In Madeira, this kind of accessibility is essential — not only because of the diverse range of landscapes on offer, but because the island’s weather changes at a moment’s notice. We spent a fair amount of time learning to interpret the plethora a weather apps, web cams and local advice as to where to go for the best photographic conditions. Needless to say, flexibility and spontaneity are the photographer’s most valuable tools here.

If you’re a photographer, graphic designer or creative professional tired of subscription-models, the recent upgrade of the Affinity suite is not just big news; it’s potentially game-changing. How to get off the Adobe subscription train and onto a more affordable editing platform and workflow is one of the most common questions I get on photographic workshops.

As a result I have long been on the lookout for tools that don’t burden you with monthly fees but still give you serious editing ability. Now, Affinity has taken a bold step — combining its photo editing, vector design and layout-publishing tools into one unified app - just called Affinity - and making it free for everyone.