Mine would be the anticipation of not knowing whether, on our summer trip to Azerbaijan,  we would be allowed access to the main landfill site in Baku. We wanted to study the Caspian Gulls that we assumed must feed there.  Not only were we allowed on to the dump, but we were allowed to walk freely amongst the rubbish and the gulls. The specific moment i will remember was at the end of a long hot first day on the dump.  I turned to Visa (Rauste) and asked how many pictures he had taken in the session.  ‘Six thousand’ came the reply.

And ‘every single one is  of  a Caspian Gull’, I thought to myself as Visa was replying: I knew at that moment that we had achieved our goal.

Chris Gibbins