The more I travel, the more I feel the need to photograph my surroundings and share it with people back home. The more I photograph, the more I become interested in how my pictures turn out.

Suddenly I find myself worried about angles, lighting, focus, contrast. I rarely keep pictures strangers have taken of me because they’re not up to the standards I’ve began to set myself. I don’t have Photoshop and I don’t use a DSLR so, like the people before my internet generation, my pictures need to look perfect the moment I take them.

One day I hope to take a photography course. Soon, after that, I hope to start experimenting with old vintage cameras. I love pictures taken with old rolls of film. There’s something beautifully spontaneous about the grainy texture of an old photograph.

Until then, I’ll keep using my bright red point-and-shoot that’s been scratched and knocked to high hell for the last nine months. It’s the pictures I’ve taken with this little camera that’re going to help me. Vicki from Banana Skin Flip Flops recently invited me to take part in Travel Supermarket’s Capture the Colour competition – a contest inviting bloggers to showcase the travel pictures that best capture the website’s selected colours. My little point-and-shoot has seen a lot of things in the last year. Here’s what I managed to find for my colours:

Blue

Loch Ness, Scotland: I caught this by accident as I was floating on top of the Loch, just as the sun went behind the clouds.

Green

San Francisco, California: I have a million and one pictures of forests, mountains and terrain I could use. But this was San Francisco for me. This is why I fell in love with the city.

Yellow

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: My wonderful amigos. I loved getting lost in the old colonial streets with them.

White

Lake Tahoe, California: I had no idea I’d find a view like this in such a sunny state. I also found something quite rare at the lake – Complete and total silence.

Red

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico: I found a little piece of home in this beautiful city.

(I now nominate Bacon is Magic, Soulshine Traveler, The Wanderlust Project, Thirty One Distant and Unbrave Girl to take part in the Capture the Colour competition. Details are here. )