Great to meet legendary cinematographer Cesar Charlone (City of God / The Constant Gardner / Blindness) last week. Cesar was in conversation with Gerry McCulloch at Goldsmiths, University of London.

I had a fab time at the Camerimage festival in Bydgoscz, Poland this week topped off by meeting Vittorio Storaro last night.

Camerimage is the international festival of the art of cinematography and Vittorio is widely regarded as the world's most accomplished cinematographer. He is a long time hero of mine and his films include The Conformist, Apocalypse Now and The Last Emperor.

Vittorio spent the last five years photographing Mohammad: Messenger of God directed by Majid Majidi- coming to our screens soon.

Mideast Iran Portraying The ProphetIn this picture taken on Jan. 30, 2013, Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi, center, director of “Muhammad, Messenger of God” movie conducts a scene of the movie, in Allahyar village 43 miles (70 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran. In Islam, portraying the Prophet Muhammad has long been taboo for many. In the new 190-minute film, the story focuses on Muhammad’s childhood, never showing his face. The movie instead focuses on others to tell his story. (AP Photo/Nourtaban Film Industry, Mohammad Foghani) What a privelige to listen to Vittorio eloquently discussing his creative process - his sophisticated theories of light and colour and how he seamlessly integrates spiritually and art to produce breathtaking moving images.

Another highlight of the week was Ryszard Lenczewski discussing how his still-image photographic work during the preproduction of My Summer of Love enabled him to evolve such captivating moving-images. What a privelege to spend time with so many talented artists e.g. Chris Menges (The Killing Fields), Slawomir Idziak (The Double Life of Veronique) and Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love) - all generously sharing their creativity. And the party tricks weren't bad either.

Sadly I missed my private view at Portrait Salon on Thursday - but luckily Kaori was able to be there.

Four Darshana Photo Art pictures by Gerry McCulloch are featured in the London Independent Photography Exhibition at Embassy Tea Gallery, London Bridge. Entry is free and the exhibition runs until 1st November, 10am - 7pm daily.

A Darshana Photo Art picture by Gerry McCulloch has been selected for Portrait Salon, an exhibition to be held at Embassy Tea Gallery in London Bridge in November. This same picture is part of a selection of four pictures by Gerry McCulloch that are currently on show at the London Independent Photography exhibition, also at Embassy Tea Gallery.

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Portrait Salon runs from 19th to 22nd November and admission is free. The exhibition then travels to Tokyo where it will be showing at the Reminders Photography Stronghold Gallery.

Anticpating the Indeterminate

I'm having Deja Vu . . . This Darshana Photo Art picture by Gerry McCulloch made it into the final shortlist for the prestigious Taylor-Wessing Portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, but alas did not make it into the exhibition. Fromf around 2,200 entries, it made it into the final 150, with 60 pictures being selected for the exhibition. Never mind, its part of a selection of four pictures by Gerry McCulloch currently showing in the London Independent Photography exhibition.

Tara Rokpa

Bizarrely the same thing happened to me last year with the above picture.

It feels a bit like Albion Rovers making it into the semi finals of the Scottish Cup two years running and going out in the penalty shoot-out on both occasions.

The Taylor-Wessing Portrait exhibition runs from 12th November until 21st February at the National Portrait Gallery. Entry costs £3.

I've recently returned from filming the documentary Burma's Lost Royals with Director Alex Bescoby and his team.

During filming, we were privileged to enjoy a fascinating interview with Burma's pre-eminent Historian Thant Myint-U, author of River of Lost Footsteps.

Exactly 130 years ago, Britain occupied Burma and toppled it's thousand year old monarchy, sending the country on a journey into confusion and tyranny from which it's only beginning to emerge. In November 2015, Burma will stage it's first free elections in more than half a century. While many in Britain are looking on in trepidation as Burma takes it's first tentative steps towards the possibility of a democratic new era, only by examining the specifics of Burma's complex history is it possible to make sense of the events that are unfolding today.

We also interviewed influential Burmese Artist Htein Lin. (I previously met up with Htein outside the Tate Modern and in Yangon around a year ago. Htein is a former political prisoner who is currently engaged in making a large scale artwork entitled A Show of Hands. Htein's artwork involves plaster casts of the arms of 1,000 Burmese political prisoners. Read more . . .

We enjoyed many adventures too numerous to mention, such as attending an unforgettable children's Gospel performance in a Yangon church and meeting up with author Rupert Arrowsmith in Yangon's most exclusive yet deserted restaurant. More updates soon . . .

Hieizansakamoto | Japan This Darshana Photo Art picture by Gerry McCulloch is currently showing at the Los Angeles Centre for Digital Art. The exhibition features a selection of work by 40 international artists curated by Joanna Szupinski-Myers of the California Museum of Photography. Exhibition dates are June 11th to July 3rd.

Fancy a quick adventure in a Tibetan corner of India without the dust ? Please be my guest and checkout this new Darshana Photo Art gallery of pictures from Bodh Gaya and Varanasi including HH 17th Karmapa, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and more . . .

Please enter the Gallery here

Sample pictures . . .

To see more images, please enter the Gallery here