Photography...

While far from a pro photographer I will try to use only my own pictures to illustrate my blog.

Photography has played a relatively significant part in my enjoyment of the outdoors from about the age of 11 when, having received a simple compact camera for my birthday I set about sneaking up on pheasants in the garden to try and take a 'decent' picture. These early attempts resulted in little more than rusty dots in the centre of a mediocre picture of my back garden, but they sowed the seed and from day one it has only ever really been wildlife and landscape photography that has interested me.

I have a particular interest in dragonflies, luckily they make stunning photographic subjects!

Progressing from that first compact onto a second hand film SLR and a very second hand zoom lens a few years later resulted in vastly improved offerings but still nothing to write home about, but it taught me a lot more about the technicalities of photography. Stepping up to digital brought more lessons and the beginnings of images I wasn't embarrassed to show people (although with hindsight, perhaps I should have been!). 

Straight after my A Levels I managed to get a job for a year as a photographer for a portraits company which, while not the sort of photography I really enjoyed, gave me the opportunity to 'play' with equipment I couldn't possibly afford and give me some more formal training in the technicalities of photography. Despite this I would never call myself anything other than an enthusiastic (albeit financially restricted) amateur photographer, especially when it comes to wildlife. As of yet, due to other hobbies and financial obligations, I haven't progressed out of a high end bridge camera - a DSLR is still something of a pipe dream, but I'll get there one day.

One of my first wildlife photographs of which I was proud - photographed in a McDonald's car park in Kent.
Pure luck but in my own experience great photographs so often are!

I think that photography for me has been more of a method, a catalyst if you will, for enjoying and learning about the wonders of nature, than an end result in and of itself. Even the photo's I'd never dream of showing off remind me of experiences I've had and prompt me to learn more about the subjects. 

I've collected some of my better photographs (there aren't that many) into a Flickr account which you can view here.