My photography journey

I was given a DSLR last year by a friend. He is a long time photography buff, who is a) a bit of a nerd, so he really gets to grips with any subject he is interested in, and b) he has a fairly high income, so he can indulge his hobbies with the best equipment and learning and so on. I had been chatting to this friend because I was interested in getting more into photography - at this point I had been sitting in baby playgroups for about 6 months, and had started snapping pix on my iPhone…. not out of boredom exactly… but you know. Lets say I had become interested in the record keeping and fun of babies.

Anyway, he was living overseas, and I called him up to have a chat about cameras, and what I should be looking at getting. Within budget constraints and so on. He gave me some advice, and I conceded that I would have to save up for a while, because it wasn't something I could just go out and buy right off.

Then two nights later he rang me back and said 'My old camera is sitting at my parents house not being used, so when I am home in a few weeks I will give it to you on indefinite loan. Which he did (he is a really awesome friend, quite aside from the amazing stuff he will pass on to you when he upgrades. Awesome guy), along with a stash of lenses and some other kit. I upped my portable contents insurance to ensure I could replace it all if anything happened, and an unspoken agreement became that I would photograph all his family functions, so he could actually do stuff with his kids and so on. It has worked wonderfully well so far.

In the year that I had his camera, I became a reasonable photographer - well of kids playing in natural light I did. My parents group loved it, as did various friends, and my daycare, who benefited from my new hobby.

Anyway, recently I acquired a whizz-bang brand spanking new version of the over-a-decade-old model camera he had given me. And promptly turned into a terrible photographer. All the bells and whistles will probably be wonderful, once I learn how to use them.

Because, of course, I am a mum to a 2 year old, a law student, a partner, have a household to run, have a part time job, am part of a sort-of-commune, and have various other responsibilities. In my little spare time I have preferred to watch tv or read or cook. However, I have two months off from most of my regular stuff, and so can finally work my way through the book and dvd that came with my camera, and months ago I bought access to a bunch of online photography classes. I also was given various books and toys (a light box set up for example) by various friends who are photo buffs too. So I have me a bit of learning to do, and I thought I would set up a separate section of my blog to track it.

This is just by way of intro, I will start on the journey in the next post.