There are only a few things more inspiring for a photographer than a road trip, nor is there one that presents such huge challenges. Foremost, you need the ability to stop: it might sound easy, but it's not. Interrupting the momentum of moving one leg at a time toward a far distant destination is tricky. And then there's all the amazing shots you miss because your eyes are on the road, and all the amazing scenes your eye alights upon momentarily that prove to be unworthy once you've gone to the trouble of heading back.

Every image is hard won.

In June my partner and I loaded our van and we set off from our home in Bristol for a little place on a big lake in Finland called Tyrväntü where her parents have a summer home. We had always wanted to drive this five day, eight country, 2,400 klm route, and after our dog Scout joined us last year, we had the perfect excuse.

What interests me are the liminal areas most people walk past. I'm fascinated by the utilitarian nature of topography, of the humdrum vernacular of someone else's familiar space, looking hard in the hope I can make something lovely out of what is intrinsically mundane. I want people to really look at these things, I'm not sure why. Maybe because they are beautiful, if only we look hard enough.