Just arrived Belo Horizonte. A lot of concrete. This is the view from the back of the hotel.

Shooting at Thomas Hardy's cottage in Dorset. This is the house where he was born and grew up... and where he wrote 'Far from the Madding Crowd'.

Well, the steamers are long gone but there are boats - and a plane - to the mainland. Sad to be leaving. Re-reading this Colm Toibin piece: http://tinyurl.com/qxnowbc

"I am settled at last on Inishmaan in a small cottage with a continual drone of Gaelic coming from the kitchen that opens into my room." I have always been fascinated by the work of John Millington Synge who first came to Aran in 1898 and soon moved from Inishmore - the largest of the islands, which he felt had become much like any other western seaboard town - to this house on the more primitive island of Inishmaan where he stayed with the MacDonagh family. The house is still owned by the family and now includes a Synge museum. Sadly, it's not open today but I'm sure it will be open in July and August. This quote is from Synge's book 'The Aran Islands' first published in 1907. Try to get a copy of the Penguin paperback edition with cover photo by Synge and wonderful preface by Tim Robinson who has written extensively about Aran as well as mapping the islands.

Staying at Inis Meain Suites. Delicious dinner last night. Well worth a visit: http://www.inismeain.com

Woke up this morning on Inishmaan, the middle of the three Aran islands and one of my favourite places to be - particularly when the weather is like this! This is the view across Inishmore towards Connemara.

Arrived back in Dublin to find a copy of the latest issue of Thread magazine which includes a feature on yours truly. Great to see such a beautiful magazine coming out of Dublin.

In London for the day working with the maestro: Brian Dowling at BDIMages.

I missed this in the cinema but finally screened it last night and it's excellent. Well worth seeing. McCullin has taken many extraordinary photograhs and speaks so eloquently about his work and his experiences. Much as I admire his war photography I was really impressed by his recent book 'Southern Frontiers - a journey across the Roman Empire' in which he documents the Roman ruins in the Middle East and North Africa - the remnants of the most southern outposts of the Empire. Looking at the pictures makes me want to go there myself. Sadly, it's probably not the time to be visiting Palmyra in Syria nor Leptus Magna in Libya.

I managed to catch the last cinema screening in Dublin of 'The Gatekeepers', a film about the Israel/Palestine situation - post 1967 - as seen through the eyes of six former leaders of Shin Bet - Israel's internal security service. Given the secrecy that surrounds Israel's security, I don't know how the director, Dror Moreh, talked them into taking part, but anyone at all interested in the Israel/Palestine situation should see this. Fascinating to hear these men talk so candidly about their experiences. And their assesments of the situation are quite surprising. A great piece of work.