A personal photographic journey

 Some time ago, I was watching a favourite photographer on a well known video site, where he described the various chapters in his photographic journey, which has remained as a seed of thought for a blog post for some time. 


My first chapter begins with the purchase of my first 'proper' DSLR in 2005, where those first photos, to be honest were barely worthy of showing in my own living room, let alone the world wide web.
 
I devoured magazines and books but when the internet became more affordable, the information and help I craved outside of regular practice with my new gear was a revelation.

I joined a few photographic forums and such, and gleaned all I could, tentatively posting my first 'improved' images, awaiting critique that was essentially free.

My second chapter is where the long chase begins for the holy grail of photography, full frame, to be the best photographer you can, you MUST have full frame. (or so the mantra says)

I bought and sold numerous cameras, lenses and probably my soul, somewhere along the line, perhaps subconsciously doing  so to attain the approval of those I was initially inspired by, but I would not be a real photographer until I had full frame. 

Before I commence further with the narrative, there may appear to be echoes of regret but to be perfectly honest I have enjoyed each and every camera along this long road......

Chapter two is where I finally get what I imagine to be the camera of my dreams, a real tank of a camera in the form of a Nikon D700, it's full frame, incredibly bulky, takes superb images, yet I still feel the need to have more up to date gear.

Inevitably I sell the '700', then a few months down the line but another because after all, it was a good camera. (sound familiar? ) 

Chapter 3 - The 'Fuji' years.
The second D700 has now gone and I am the proud owner of a Fuji X100s, as well as an XE-1, this is where I discover my love for shooting small prime lenses, something that will remain.

During this whole time, I have fallen for the need to own lenses with clinical sharpness, and to shoot RAW only and the necessity to have the latest bells and whistles on whatever gear I am using. 

Much of the photography I post is for the masses, eager to attain growth on social media platforms and to appease the algorithm gods.

Chapter 4 
The subsequent selling off of the Fuji gear follows the same purge and purchase pattern of previous chapters but with the price of pre owned Fuji cameras spiralling out of control and out of my budget, the purchase of old digicams begins the current chapter of my journey.

I had never entertained the idea of a compact point camera, they were never even remotely near my radar, they were for beginners and tourists weren't they? 

Two years later, I am having the time of my life with my photography, with a growing collection of old mirrorless cameras and compacts that are still well short of the cost of most of the latest new gear.

'Snapshot Sundays'  is the latest of my photo projects, where I take a single digicam for a local photo walk and just see what I get. 

I have never cared less about sensor size of full frame equivalent focal lengths, I embrace the noise with these smaller sensor cameras, especially with the monochrome shots, of which I am taking more and more these days. 

In the last couple of years, I have started to have photo books made with images from my retro gear, rather than leaving them, to remain hidden in hard drive limbo. 

The first three chapters were crucial in my photographic apprenticeship, I have learned so much and been inspired by many but I believe that after much searching I have found my own style in which to convey the world as I see it.

With my current enjoyment of black and white photography in mind, I offer a selection of recent images 

I am unsure of where chapter five may lead, hopefully it will be just as enjoyable and perhaps a little less expensive over all.