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Flickr Friday: Robert McTaggart/ Tagois
By
Susan Greenwood

22 Apr 2011
Travel photography, discussion and inspiration

Even if his photos weren't great, the titles alone would keep you flicking through Robert Mctaggart's photostream. Here is a man who clearly loves photography and the opportunities it offers to capture his travels.

The dynamic shot of Iguazu Falls taken from the Brazillian side is another example of his fascination with the moment - and mud.

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Or if you've got an image you'd like to share and discuss but aren't on Flickr (and why not?) - pop it over in an email: been.there.photos@guardian.co.uk

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Iguazu Falls


I was travelling in Chile and Argentina
, and only nipped across from Argentina to see the Brazilian side of the Falls. I was in Brazil for about four hours altogether. Luckily I'm going back this year, for a wedding.

Like a lot of the best pictures, this particular shot was pretty spontaneous and I got something I was pleased with, without too much trial and error.

I'd wanted to go to Iguazú since I saw a picture in an illustrated atlas I had when I was eight or nine years old, so this was a bit of a pilgrimage. Also I love Wong Kar-Wai's film "Happy together", in which the Falls feature heavily. I'm not deluding myself that this is anything like as good as Christopher Doyle's amazing cinematography, but it was the closest I got to the atmosphere.

It had been raining torrentially a few minutes before, so it was hardly the most perfect weather, but I got the falls at full power and I love the colour of the mud hurtling down. I think it's something a bit different from the usual image, so I'm not sure I'd change much. I'd like to have framed it a little better, I guess.

With my photography I'm trying to capture a moment
that's never been captured before. And if I don't achieve that then I shoot for the memories, and try and get something that sums up a place or an experience for me personally.

There are certain things I come back to. I love Russian churches and old Communist architecture, I love a good bar. Trams and metros. I like faded seaside glamour, lighthouses, a good sunset, and strange and childish graffiti in unlikely places. But I don't think there's anything I'm not interested in if the moment and the light is right.

I just use a good compact, a Canon Sure Shot G7. For this one I used the wide angle converter. I dare say I take better pictures with an SLR and I will invest one of these days, but I do love the compact's portability and spontaneity that gives me.

I'd love to go to the Arctic
. I'd love to back to Georgia again, and visit Svaneti, which is supposedly wild, mysterious and unbelievably beautiful. Vietnam, Bolivia, Ukraine.... I simply can't imagine ever taking all the photos I want take, even in places I've visited numerous times before, such as Sweden and Finland. And I haven't taken nearly enough pictures of people I love.


If you've got an image you'd like to share and discuss or you'd like to chat about Robert's photo, drop us an email: been.there.photos@guardian.co.uk