Great North Run

It's got to be one of the country's most spectacular events, a half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields. Suspect weather didn't dampen the day as 55,000 runners or so took to the streets.

David Weir (in white) on route to winning the wheelchair race. They are seriously fast.

Billed as the best field to ever grace UK roads, Mo Farah, Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele were the elite of the elite athletes. What a finish with Bekele just holding off a sprinting Farah.

The event would not be complete without the Red Arrows.

Just call 118118...

It would have been easier to cycle!

My dear wife Lindsey, looking far too fresh 500m from the finish.

She was proud to be running on behalf of Parkinsons UK. Do support them if you can to find a cure for this wretched illness.

Last days of film

‘Pomp and Circumstance’ and ‘Jerusalem’ stirred the Albert Hall again at Saturday’s Last Night of the Proms.

Digital computer trickery now makes it relatively easy to produce a layered image like this, but I actually did this one the hard way, using film and entirely in the camera. Combining multiple exposures, transparency projection and the precise alignment of the different elements made it just the sort of challenging composition I really miss.

Sunshine pizza

How do you shoot a sunny garden on a cloudy day? You make one as I did here, positioning numerous lights around this courtyard. The appropriately named Spice PR had commissioned me to photograph the new Earthfire outdoor pizza ovens from their client Grenadier. Private chef Jason Palin, who has cooked in 40 countries (including for A-list stars in Gstaad, no less) brought some Mediterranean flavour to a dull British afternoon, cooking calzone and oven-roast mackerel as well as pizza.

And the best part of the shoot? I got to eat the props.

and behind the scenes, creating sunshine 

A touch of paradise

It's snowing, so we need warming up with this picture taken on the Greek island of Kefalonia. I like the way the colours change diagonally through this picture, from near black at the top left through bands of different blues and onto the inviting Aegean beach. The fishing boat at the centre looks tiny and insignificant, but it’s essential to the shot as it introduces a sense of scale.

It must be tough for the fishermen, working in Paradise.

Picture of the Week - Reflecting on Rylands

The John Rylands Library is one of Manchester’s most attractive buildings, inside and out. A routine walk along Deansgate turned into one of those special photographic opportunities with these glorious patterns created by the low sun reflecting from the windows of the building opposite. An iphone was all I had so it was pressed into action. Back at base I boosted the contrast and saturation to accentuate the effect.

Tour of Britain

The Tour of Britain hit the roads of Cheshire. Two stages came close to Macclesfield, the first from Nottingham to Knowsley and the second a loop around Stoke-on-Trent. The company bike was pushed out and I went along to watch it all go past in a blur. Tour de France winner and Olympic gold medalist, Bradley Wiggins and world road champion, Mark Cavendish were the stars of the show.

Check out the country's most famous sideburns

The police have a great time...

Is that Cav admiring my bike?

Olympic Torch

Macclesfield greeted the Olympic Torch today with some of its infamous rain, but it didn't dampen the crowd's mood or put out the flame! Only 57 days until the greatest show on earth...