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For this kind of work I like to travel as light as possible so limit myself to one camera body (Nikon F5) and 3 lenses being a 20mm, 28-105mm and an 80-200mm. Warm-up filters, polarising and ND grads are also included and packed into a LowePro Trekker Classic. A tripod or at least some sort of support is an absolute must especially when working either end of the day. The one I used is the Manfrotto 055 CLB which proved more than up for the job and on the legs I fitted their padded warmers though pipe insulation would have worked just as well. You never really appreciate just how important it is to use something on the legs in cold weather to prevent your hands from freezing whenever you touch them, until you have been somewhere 'really' cold. On my last visit there, daytime temperatures plummeted to -20 deg C with windchill bringing it down to an icy -35! And it's not just the tripod legs that need insulating!

2004 has so far been quite busy with several trips to the Czech Republic resulting in some nice winter images of Prague. I have never really considered myself to be a 'city' person but since my first trip in December 2002 I have been over there a dozen times and am well and truly hooked! It did however take many visits before I was able to really find my way around the maze of medieval cobbled streets and once certain locations and vantage points had been found it was simply a matter of waiting for the right conditions. There can be only a few cities that match Prague on a sunny winters day with a light dusting of snow, a few examples of which are shown here.