Photographers

• rafaelrojas.com Rafael Rojas is a fine art photographer whose work frequently focuses on concepts such as time, decay and renewal. Rafael taught me the importance of clarifying your vision before commencing post-processing. (Sometimes it can be a challenge to identify the exact emotions I feel at the time of capture - those that cause me to stop and take the photo - and to turn them into a clear post-processing goal.)
• bwvision.com Joel Tjintjelaar's name is synonymous with black and white long exposure architectural work. Joel has developed a post-processing technique (iterative selective gradient masking) that endows his photos with his unique, signature style. One of my goals is to learn this technique and see where it takes me.
• michaelkenna.net Michael Kenna's landscapes are truly inspiring. They resonate so strongly that I have to make a conscious effort not to look at them too often - I am afraid that emulation could all too easily become copying.

Photography

• luminous-landscape.com LuLa contains a wealth of information for a nominal annual fee and is my go-to website for anything technical. In addition to interesting articles and an active forum of knowledgable photographers there are also educational videos - it's where I learnt the basics of Lightroom software and digital printing techniques.
• theartofphotography.tv Ted Forbes is a gifted vlogger and walking encyclopaedia on the history of photography with a large youtube following. Many of his blogs and podcasts are about improving technique; usually he avoids gear talk, though recently he appears to be spending more time on it. Ted often showcases the work of both contemporary and historically influential photographers. I think Ted has an amazing voice - if he ever gives up his day jobs he should seriously consider a full-time career in radio.
• www.schewephoto.com Jeff Shewe is a world renowned Photoshop expert, professional commercial photographer, and digital imaging artist. In addition to occasional contributions to LuLa (see above) and frequent workshops, Jeff has updated two of Ansel Adams' seminal books for the digital age. I have both and frequently consult them
  • "The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop"
  • "The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing"

Picture Framing

• Mary's Bilderladen Although I like to print my photos myself, when it comes to framing that's something I prefer to let others do. Most of my favourite photos have been framed at Mary's Bilderladen in Kassel. I go there primarily because I find that Frau Blank gives good advice, especially when it comes to selection of an appropriate mat (passepartout), a task that I have always found challenging.

Argentine Tango

(I know this is a photography website, but just in case anyone is interested to learn or to dance tango...)

• rogaia.de Tucked away in the gentle hills above Lago di Trasimeno in a small corner of Umbria, Italy, Villa La Rogaia is the perfect place to learn and develop your tango skills. I have spent many wonderful holidays there in the delightful company of Wolfgang Sandt and Annette Greifenhagen.
• tango-querido.de Kassel offers several venues where you can dance (and learn) tango. My favourite place to dance is Querido, which focusses on music from the "golden era" (1930s-40s); if you prefer more modern music and especially neotango then you are probably better off going to Zero.