264 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
264 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
travel
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destinations
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africaandindianocean
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morocco
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4838855
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# Morocco: A picture perfect getaway
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## Do you seriously want to improve your travel photography? Then book a
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course in the field with an expert, as Nigel Tisdall did in Morocco with Steve
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Davey.
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![Photographer in Morocco - A picture perfect getaway in Morocco][1]
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Image 1 of 2
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Picture this: one of the group seeks a new vantage point for their photography
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in Morocco Photo: NIGEL TISDALL
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![The professional photographer Steve Davey's take on Ait Banhaddou - A
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picture perfect getaway in Morocco][2]
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Image 1 of 2
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The professional photographer Steve Davey's take on Ait Banhaddou Photo: Steve
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Davey/ stevedavey.com
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By Nigel Tisdall 11:00AM GMT 27 Feb 2009
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[Comments][3]
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Dusk is falling in the most famous square in North Africa. Kohl-eyed girls are
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lining up glasses of mint tea, burly men are dishing out freshly cooked
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sheeps' heads, the snakes are looking charming. Everyone is set for another
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magical night in the Marrakesh merry-go-round that is Djemaa el Fna.
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Except me. I'm here on a holiday to learn about travel photography, and our
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tutor has just given us 15 minutes to "get a few interesting images" before we
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gather at a roof terrace cafe to try some classic, sunset-over-the-medina
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shots. While our group of eight is not at all competitive, I'm feeling
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anxious. Djemaa el Fna may well have been photographed to death, but it's
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still a wonderful sight - and if you can't get a cracking shot here, well…
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I hook up with a fellow student, Max, and we agree that the toughest subject
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for a travel photographer is people. Forcing ourselves to tackle this, we home
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in on a glaringly-lit row of stallholders selling steaming bowls of snails.
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There's one in a white lab coat who looks like an extra from the film _Borat_,
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and I ask permission to take some shots. "Un euro" he demands, but we pass on
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an offer to taste the snails.
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For a few intense minutes Max and I are lost in a paparazzi-style photo blitz
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that feels promising. Only later do I discover that my camera settings have
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gone wildly wrong. Somehow I've locked the metering to spot and spun the white
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balance to preset, whatever that does. In my moment of glory, I've totally
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messed up.
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Such is the pain and joy of digital photography. The advent of multimillion-
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pixel cameras is clearly a great revolution, allowing travellers to freeze
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that bungee jump, capture the atmosphere of a candlelit church in Guatemala
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and zoom in to record the glint in a gorilla's eye. At the same time these hi-
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tech beasts seem too clever for their own good, and come with baffling manuals
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and a sub-plot of computer-based post-production that soon provokes nostalgic
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sighs for the simpler days when we just went off on our hols, happily snapped
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away, then dropped the film into the chemist.
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## Related Articles
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* [Learning photography in Morocco][4]
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27 Feb 2009
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* [The Big Picture travel photography competition][5]
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26 Feb 2009
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* [More ideas for holidays in Africa][6]
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26 Feb 2009
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The greatest advantage of digital cameras, of course, is that you can click
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and tweak and play about as much as you like at no extra cost, and with
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instantly viewable results. In the blink of an electronic shutter, we have all
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become photography students - and as the tremendous response to the
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competitions held in _Telegraph Travel _(see [The Big Picture][5]) has
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demonstrated, many of us are now returning from our travels with a wealth of
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strong and captivating images.
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It is for such reasons that my group is now tucking into tagines and couscous
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with Steve Davey, who is part of a new universe of specialist guides, books,
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workshops, websites and holidays that has sprung up to help us make the most
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of the natural union of digital cameras and travel. Author and principal
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photographer for the best-selling BBC book 'Unforgettable Places to See Before
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You Die', Steve has impeccable globe-trotting credentials, but more
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importantly he turns out to be a genial communicator. One hazard of
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photography is that it attracts "anoraks", but thankfully Steve is more of a
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friendly fleece.
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After many years on the road, he recently poured all his experiences into a
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new guidebook to travel photography that we all agree is mightily inspiring.
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Loaded with advice on subjects such as how to get good pictures while on a
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boat or train, it includes hundreds of his own, hard-won images that are
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fulsomely captioned, so you can understand exactly how that top shot was
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achieved. But books and websites can only get you so far. As we wander the
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souks, I soon realise that nothing beats going into the field with an expert.
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It is in the nature of travel photography that things are suddenly thrown at
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you, and the opportunity to get instant advice on the spot is priceless. How
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can I get the rich colour of these carpets? Why is my silhouette of this
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minaret not working? Should I chance a shot of that beautiful Berber girl?
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While the professionals will devote hours to stalking a definitive image, most
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of us only have a few minutes to quickly grab something before moving on.
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Driving up to the snow-dusted High Atlas mountains, there is a unanimous
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outcry in the minibus when we suddenly behold a view that is pure Morocco.
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Rich red fields, silvery olive trees, a centuries-old village, jagged white
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peaks and an oceanic blue sky. It's the classic calendar shot and we all pile
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out to try to capture the scene, but with such a variation of light and dark,
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it is a tricky subject. While I am dithering, Steve just gets down on the
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ground and snaps the view through the outline of some prickly pears.
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"Good shot?" I ask.
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"I think so," he replies, "but I fear I've been lying in goat -." As Steve
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frequently demonstrates, good travel photographers will be quite grubby by the
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end of their working day. They must also be tirelessly devoted to finding the
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best light, which means no leisurely lie-ins. The next morning we're up at
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five to catch the sunrise over Ait Benhaddou, a kasbah that has starred in
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numerous films from _Lawrence of Arabia_ to _Gladiator_. It's a long way off,
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but a major benefit of travelling in a group is you get the chance to compare
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and borrow kit. A Nikon devotee, Steve has brought along an arsenal of camera
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bodies and lenses for us to play with, including some eyewateringly good zooms
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and the new D90, the world's first digital SLR to include a movie function.
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Now what use is that? My scepticism soon disappears when I realise this is
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perfect for gathering video evidence of my roommate's stentorian snoring.
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The latest digital SLRs now have superb three-inch LCD screens, which allow us
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to flick through the day's shots every evening, admiring individual approaches
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and discussing technical challenges. Our tutor also treats us to after-dinner
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talks gathered around his laptop, in which we are given insights into such
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mysteries as RAW (a file format), sharpening and camera calibration, and learn
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his "Six-Point Plan for Better Pictures".
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For me, the most inspiring of Steve's mantras is his insistence that we must
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all strive to take a proper photograph, not just a simple, representational
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record of our travels. This requires an eye for composition, as well as
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knowing how to get the best from your camera. While significant enhancements
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can be done later at the computer, we all agree that travel photography means
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getting out and about - not sitting in a darkened room screaming at Photoshop.
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By the time we reach Aremd, a chilly, end-of-the-valley hamlet near Imlil, I'm
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feeling a euphoric sense of progress. Once my camera was a grumpy friend, now
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it's a good mate. Thanks to Steve and my fellow students, I'm now breezily
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checking my histograms, pumping up the ISO and spinning that exposure
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compensation wheel like a DJ mixing sounds.
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On our final morning I'm the first person up, a keen bean who scurries on to
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the roof terrace with my tripod to try some dawn shots of the snow-sprinkled
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mountains that I fancy will look best when converted to black-and-white. The
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peace of the High Atlas in winter is astounding, and I realise I'm blissfully
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happy up there, tweaking and framing in the pinky light. While pros like Steve
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Davey move on a higher plane, shooting star trails over Tanzania and capturing
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the ruins of Angkor awash with moonlight, trips like this are a reminder that
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we are all now capable of taking, and appreciating, a good picture. What else
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is there to do with life, but give it your best shot?
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* **Intrepid Travel** (020 3147 7777; [www.intrepidtravel.com)][7] offers
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small group and independent tours of Morocco, from £415 (plus a local payment
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of €200) for nine days excluding flights.
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* A 12-night tour incorporating **Steve Davey's photography course**,
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departing September 21, costs from £1,195 (plus local payment of 300),
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excluding flights.
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* **Morocco Handbook **(Footprint £14.99) covers the country in detail.
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* Steve Davey's **Travel Photography **(Footprint £19.99) is a thorough and
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inspiring guide to the subject, with a companion website, which also details
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the photography course tours, at [http://footprinttravelphotography.info][8].
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In addition to Morocco, the author will be leading a specialist photography
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trip with Intrepid to India later this year. For information on Nikon cameras
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see [www.nikon.co.uk.][9]
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**Visit [Marrakesh & the Atlas Mountains][10] with [Telegraph Riviera
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Travel][11] [![][12]][10]**
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[X][13] Share & bookmark
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][14]
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* Share: [Share][13] [ ][15] [ ][16]
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[Tweet][17]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africaandindianocean/morocco/48
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38855/Morocco-A-picture-perfect-getaway-travel-photography.html
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Telegraph
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## [Morocco][18]
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* ### [Travel »][19]
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* ### [Arts and Culture »][20]
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* ### [Africa and Indian Ocean »][6]
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* ### [Nigel Tisdall »][21]
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In travel
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[![Marrakech shopping: secrets of the souks][22] ][23]
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### [Marrakech shopping: secrets of the souks][23]
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[X][13] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][14]
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Share:
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* [ ][13]
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* [ ][15]
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* [ ][16]
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* [Tweet][17]
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* Advertisement
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![][24]
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telegraphuk
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Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.][25] [blog
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comments powered by Disqus][26]
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## [Telegraph Cottages »][27]
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