Michelle Chaplow
Photographer

Michelle Chaplow is a hispanophile. She is British by birth but has lived and worked in Andalucia in Southern Spain for fifteen years as a freelance photographer specialising in travel, and tourism. Having studied photography at Seville University, Michelle´s work has appeared in magazines, books and newspapers all over Europe, Australia, the United States of America, and even China. In 1996 she was awarded a prestigious state contract by Turespaña, the Spanish Tourist Board. Then in 2001 she received an honorary mention for her continuous work in the field of photography, promoting Spanish tourism at the Ortiz Echagüe prize given by the Spanish Ministry of Tourism and Commerce.

Her latest 288 page colour coffee table book “Espagne”, was commissioned by the prestigious Parisian publishing house, Vilo. The photo editor of National Geographic Magazine, Stephen St John, described her work as “beautifully illustrative, well composed   and extremely colourful”, portraying the very essence of the Spain she so loves.

Copyright notice

All of the photographs marked © MVC are the copyright of Michelle Chaplow and cannot be published without prior permission from the author.

Journalists

Brenda Padilla
Lifestyle Contributor / Editor

Brenda has a degree in Spanish from Western Washington University and has studied at the Universities of Alicante and Seville and has an ESL teaching certification from Seattle University. She has many years experience as both a teacher and journalist. She has lived in Andalucia since 1997, and contributed to and worked with a variety of media in southern Spain, including monthly magazines, radio and newspapers. She has also translated a book about Andalusian natural parks published for the Spanish Tourist Board.

Josephine Quintero

Josephine has a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley and has worked as a journalist and travel writer for the past 25 years. She was editor of the Kuwait Oil Company magazine, Kuwaiti Digest for 5 years, before she was taken hostage during the Iraq invasion in 1990. Josephine moved to the relaxed shores of Andalucía shortly thereafter. She is a commissioned quarterly/monthly contributor  for Virgin and Easyjet inflight magazines and an author for Lonely Planet. Josephine has worked as an author for several LP titles, including  Australia, Tuscany and Umbria, Naples, Spain and Portugal. She also regularly updates travel guides to Andalucía and Spain for Fodor’s, Cadogan, AA Publishing, Footprint and Insight Guides.

Theresa O'Shea

Theresa O'Shea has been widely published in Spain, the UK, USA and Europe, writing on a wide variety of subjects related to life in Spain. She is known for her in-depth knowledge and witty perspectives on life and culture in this country. She is also the co-author of "In the Garlic", an entertaining A-Z guide of all things Spanish.

Chris Wawn
Pueblo and History Contributor

Chris' knowledge on Andalucia has been of great assistance to the site's content pages and he has made available many articles, based on his series of books, and published works. Chris has a post graduate diploma in management, and honours degree in History and Geography.

Together with his " complice " (accomplice, in Spanish), David Wood, he has written a book entitled, In Search of Andalucia , as well as various articles in local magazines. Currently he has a second book on the way. Chris resides in Spain and specialises in Roman and Medieval landscape and settlement patterns.

Eamonn Power
Golf Contributor

A long time resident of the Costa del Sol, Eamonn Power is a member of the prestigious Association of Golf Writers who travels extensively reporting on the game for both local and Irish golf magazines. In writing characterised with a rich vein of humour, Eamonn's comments are inevitably incisive, and sometimes hard-hitting, and his regular columns are widely read. During his travels Eamonn has collected a fund of golfing anecdotes and his Irish brogue makes him much in demand as an after-dinner speaker.

David Searl
Author of "You and the Law in Spain"

David Searl has made a name for himself as the Costa del Sol's foreign legal expert. He has written numerous books on various aspects of Spanish legal matters, all aimed at helping foreigners solve practical problems with down to earth, easy to understand advice.

Lawrence has lived in Andalucia since 1983, but he also lived here from 1960-63. As he explains, he came here," for purely emotional, psychological, even amorous reasons, but nothing practical or financially motivated." He has written several books about Granada and the village of Montefrio, and a memoir. He specializes in Granada, Montefrio, history of the Moors, the Reconquest, and flamenco.

John GilL
Journalist and author

John Gill has lived in Ronda for the past seven years. He is the author of eight books, including books on Spain and Greece, and has contributed to Condé Nast Traveller, Elle, The Independent, Guardian, Daily Mirror, Express and others, as well and subediting on most British nationals. Desk-bound in London he was a senior editor on Time Out, and has written on music for The Times to Smash Hits as well as the international music press. He writes for The Wire, Ronda’s Spanish arts magazine and is a regular contributor to the pages of Andalucia.com

John Gill is also the author of Andalucia A Cultural History with photos by Michelle Chaplow. This entertaining guide to Andalucia past and present provides a unique perspective on the historic factors that have created an array of unique trends in contemporary Spanish society.

A valuable contributor to andalucia.com, as well as one of the Coast's best known journalists and travel writers, Mark Little tragically died on Saturday, August 4th 2001 after a short illness.

Mark will be remembered by his friends and colleagues for his good nature, as well as his excellent journalistic skills. Although American by birth, he moved to the Costa del Sol at the age of ten and continued his education at Málaga University where he majored in Spanish Language and Literature.
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Dee McMath
Lifestyle Contributor

Passionate about Andalusia and a healthy lifestyle, Dee has lived and worked in Malaga since 1980. She is an established features writer for publications including the Channel Four TV Magazine, ‘Everything Spain’, UK’s ‘Spain’ Magazine, Marbella’s “H! Society’, ‘ABC Mallorca’, etc. A fluent Spanish speaker, her freelance journalism and photography take her all over southern Spain and her features include interviews with Spanish and international celebrities. Dedicated to keeping fit, she is a qualified fitness instructor (YMCA) and amongst the hundreds of pages she has written for Andalucia.com, over 50 of them are on alternative health and fitness in Andalusia.

Tony Bryant
Flamenco Specialist

Tony's life has been closely linked with music since an early age. Born in Stockwell, south London, there always seemed to be music in his home. His mother was, in fact, a pianist. Tony began learning the drums at the age of 10 and was influenced by a variety of figures in the rock-and-roll hierarchy.

In 1994, Tony moved to Andalucia where he still lives today. It was on a trip to Seville that Tony had his first encounter with flamenco and it was an event that would change his life. "It was like flamenco was seducing me," he stated while later recalling the event. The floodgates had opened and Tony began to dedicate much of his life to understanding the roots of this powerful art form. He also tried to delve into the culture that makes this incredible music possible, travelling all over Andalucia and watching some of its greatest artists perform. His adventures are recounted in his first book, Flamenco -- An Englishman's Passion.

Along with the work that Tony is doing for us here at Andalucia.com, he also is a regular contributor on Onda Cero International Radio with a flamenco show that he co-hosts with Brenda Padilla. Tony is also completing his second book, Flamenco: A Tale of Three Cities, which will be publicly available this summer 2007.

Katie O'Neill
Home, Family and Education Contributor

Katie has lived in Spain for several years, moving to Andalucia five years ago. She originally came here because her husband´s family is from this area, and it therefore seemed like a logical place to settle. She and her family have stayed because because they enjoy the climate and the international aspect of living in this area, where so many cultures mix.

Katie has a university degree in psychology with experience in the field of teaching. Being well integrated into the Spanish community, she has much to contribute to Andalucia.com on subjects such as cultural integration, customs, language, food, education and much more. Katie dedicates much of her time to the CUDECA charity hospice in Mijas.

Michel Cruz

Michel is a writer and editor who covers a very wide field of topics, ranging from finance and property to art and décor, but having always been fascinated by travel and discovering new places and cultures, his first love is travel writing. "I have always enjoyed contributing articles on the villages and towns of Andalucía, and now Morocco, to the Andalucia.com website. It's great fun to discover new worlds as you do the research, both visiting places in person and reading up about them."

An economist by training with a background in marketing, he has written for and edited Villas &. and Essential Marbella Magazine, as well as contributing to a large number of local and international publications, including the Easyjet and Virgin in-flight magazines, Spanish Homes and the Sunday Times Travel Magazine.

Milagros Vacas
Contributor

Milagros came to Spain as an Erasmus student and spent a year studying at the University of Málaga. She was attracted to Spain's Moorish heritage. Her advice for future students is, "Work out a budget for yourself as soon as you get here and make sure you travel lots as there is so much to see!" Her contributions to Andalucia.com include articles the "botellon phenomenon" and university life in Spain

Wijjie
Moorish Heritage Contributor

Wijjie, as she is known, has lived in Andalucia since 2002. She came from Damascus, because she wanted to visit Cordoba, where her ancestors the Ummeyads ruled a thousand years ago, and Granada, because the Alhambra has so much in common with the architecture in Syria.

As she says, "I am only 22 so don't have much writing experience, but I won a literary prize in Sweden where I have been studying for the past 6 years. The subject of my prize winning essay was my grandmother in Damascus." Wijjie specializes in Andalusia's Moorish past: the Caliphate of Cordoba, the Alhambra, and many other aspects of Moorish heritage.

DAVID WOOD

David Wood was born in London. His humorous articles and stories have appeared in magazines both in England and in Spain over many years. After working for almost twenty years in communications in England, he and his Gibraltar born wife moved to southern Spain in 1989. He has two grown-up children and now works in the holiday/leisure industry. He is the Co author of the hardback book in Search of Andalucia and specialises in the history of Southern Spain.

Melanie Wilkins
Student Contributor

Melanie spent six months studying at Málaga University as part of her UK university course. She was attracted to Andalucia's many monuments and the history and culture they represent. Her top piece of advice for future students coming to study here is: "Ensure that you set aside time and money to travel, even for the day, to experience some of the wonderful places andalucia has to offer." Night life and fitness facilities are among the many topics Melanie has contributed to Andalucía.com.

JO WILLIAMS
Freelance travel writer

Jo Williams first visited Andalucia 13 years ago and was smitten from the start after a dusty summer spent in the desert-like mountains of Almeria. After completing her English degree at Leeds University, she lived and worked in Central America for three years, as a journalist and for the UN truth commission. On return to Europe she was a book editor for Footprint Handbooks in Bath for three years before moving to Southern Spain in 2001. Over the past five years she has contributed to books on Andalucia and Spain by AA travel guides, Footprint Handbooks and Time Out guides. She has also written for the travel section in Glamour magazine. Jo is based in Huelva province, she has written extensively on this Andalucia´s protected areas for Andalucia.com.

Owen Thomas
Editor / Journalist

Owen was born in England and immigrated to Canada at an early age. He was awarded his Master's Degree in History from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.

Since then he has published numerous articles in magazines and scholarly journals including Spanish Magazine, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and the Canadian cultural magazine, The Word. Owen has also published a book on Black history in Canada entitled Niagara's Freedom Trail: A Guide to African-Canadian History in the Niagara Peninsula and has worked for the Canadian government as a Federal Historian for a number of years before moving to Spain.

Lidia Pedraz
Researcher

Lidia Pedraz is responsible for updating and expanding the Andalucia.com Restaurant Guide and focusing on the needs of our growing "What's On" calendar. Lidia is from Salamanca, a city that is famous for the pure Castillian spoken there. She has an English Degree from the University of Salamanca and lived in London for 12 years where she taught Spanish language at London Guildhall University and Open University before returning to her beloved Spain.

For family reasons, Lidia chose to establish herself in Andalucia where she has worked as a freelance teacher and translator. She says, "For me, coming to Andalucia is a new experience because even though I'm Spanish, I find this area very different to my inland hometown."

Meet the Andalucia.com Team >>

Sam Hall
Junior Web Designer