John Oates: Freelance writer, photographer and editor
Travel writing
Since winning the Young Travel Writer of the Year award in the UK’s Guardian newspaper in 2002, I have written for publications including ABTA Magazine, Metro, Islands, Sublime and various in-flight magazines. My areas of interest are broad but include ecotourism, budget travel and anything offbeat or adventurous. I have also been the travel correspondent for Disability Product News magazine since 2006 and am available to write on accessible travel.I contributed to both editions of the Footprint guide to European City Breaks and the Latvia section, plus cross-Baltic material, for the recent Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Guide to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. I also wrote spreads for The Road Less Travelled, published by Dorling Kindersley in September 2009.
I spent the whole of 2008 living and working in Southeast Asia, allowing me to pursue story angles in more depth in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Photography
I consider photography to be an essential part of my work, and always bring back images to illustrate articles. I was shortlisted for the New Talent category of the Travel Photographer of the Year competition in 2009, for a portfolio of images taken during Easter Week in the Philippines.I also sell stock images both directly and through Alamy and Photographers Direct.