how to take better photographs

I once knew a guy who took the worst photos I've ever seen in my life - and he did it as a profession. He would spend thousands on equipment without knowing a single thing about how to actually capture good images, and his work suffered badly for it. Considering he'd quit his job to do it full-time, his family expected him to actually be able to make an income from it - and yet, most of his work would be unpaid and unwanted, and most importantly, goddam awful. Whilst good equipment is great, being able to take photos people actually want to spend time looking at is so much better - and so, I've pulled together some ways in which you can make your photos more unique and, more importantly, not absolute crap like that photographer.

how to stay safe with airbnb

On my recent post about Adeje, you guys were all so shocked about my Airbnb host and how they treated us, with y'all wanting advice on how to avoid having the same fate. Nearly being left stranded and homeless on a foreign island is something no one should have to go through with such a trusted home-sharing site, and so I feel as if I am now qualified enough to give you guys tips on how to avoid getting left in the dark like we were.

how to live like a local in callao salvaje, adeje

One four-hour flight and three-hour coach ride later, we had finally made it to Adeje. Exhausted and hungry, my travel companion and I just wanted nothing more than to sit back and relax in our Airbnb. It was a last minute trip abroad, and despite hearing horror story after horror story about the company, we were willing to give it a go for the sake of having somewhere to stay. And so, we trek up the hill to our temporary apartment, try to get into reception, and - there is no Airbnb waiting. Ringing our host and conversing in Spanish, we were just able to pick out six simple words - "I don't have anywhere for you". With our host suddenly refusing to take us in, despite paying for the week in advance, we were left with nowhere to stay - quite fitting at Christmas with the whole Mary and Joseph no room at the Inn sorta thing. No hotels, no bed and breakfasts. By that point, it felt like we needed another holiday to recover from this one. Luckily, my family lived here for many years so were known by the locals, and after several hours of temporarily being homeless in Playa Paraiso, a bar-owning couple in Callao were able to take us in. Promoted from tourist to temporary local, we were ready to fully indulge in the sunny, slow-paced life of Adeje.