You know when ...

Balloons on the Bosphorous, Istanbul, originally uploaded by - di.

You know when you're walking along the edge of the Bosphorous on a blue-sky-sunshiny-day and you discover balloons floating out on the surface of the water...?

I was stunned and may have photographed them extensively, muttering, all but incoherent with pleasure as I worked.

But that's Istanbul ... anything and everything is possible.

I'm sincerely sorry not to be blog reading and commenting during this period but last count there was almost 2000 new Istanbul images filed on my laptop. Another heavy edit is required but this city is just one huge and exciting cascade of beautiful images.

Today, the only fisherman I spoke to on Galata Bridge was from Belgium. This was a purely chance meeting as I was looking to interview one of the fishermen there and chose him because he was there with his son.

Another man spotted me photographing his pigeons in the alleyway next to the Egyptian Bazaar and took out some seriously beautiful birds for me to photograph close-up.

The shoe-shine guys allowed me to photograph them too, just to mention a few. Then there's talk of a more extensive working trip through Turkey in the months ahead but that's a whole other exciting story to be told when life isn't all about taking photographs, editing photographs, processing photographs, getting up the next day and doing it all over again.

I'm absolutely and completely enjoying being back here - wandering all over the city, catching the metro and eating the most stunning food, meeting the same warmhearted generous people I've always found here in this delicious city called Istanbul.

11.34pm and still working.
I hope all is good in your world.