Photography has never been ‘a thing’ in my family. I don’t even remember my parents having a camera, but they must have done as there are a few black and white ones at the beach when I was very small, along with the usual studio shots and school portraits from that era.
I must have had one to take with me on a school trip to Germany when I was 15, but the photos are about 2.5 inches square and very bad! Although I didn’t cut off people’s heads my compositions weren’t great. Next was a 10 week trip hitch-hiking around Europe, with the same camera I think. Again, nothing very special. With film and developing being expensive you didn’t take several shots of the same thing, hoping that the photo you did take would be what you wanted Sadly so often the results were very disappointing. And no way to go back to the Acropolis for another take. This camera accompanied me to Geneva where I worked as an au pair, six months working in Norway and on the overland journey to India. What missed opportunities! The photos are small and square and don’t even scan well.
For my 21st birthday I got a Kodak Instamatic into which you could pop a sealed cartridge which enclosed the film. No more having to close the curtains and sit in a darkened room to wind your film on or off the sprockets. This was used for many years for mostly family photos. At some point I moved onto a Fujifilm point and shoot camera which accompanied me on my first and second visits to Australia in 1998 and 2000 where I began to be interested in landscapes (though not necessarily understanding light and shade).
And then on my Southern Africa trip in 2000. This camera had a panoramic setting, the problem was that once you had set this feature you had to use it for the whole film. It was on that trip that I decided I wanted / needed a better camera. For the first time I was desperate to capture the landscape, the wildlife. And all I had was a little point and shoot camera.
As a single parent who worked all week and did chores all weekend and saved every spare penny for holidays there wasn’t much money to splurge on fancy cameras. And so the Fuji accompanied me to Australia on my third visit in 2003. On that trip my future OH joined me with his Canon SLR so I didn’t take many photos. Unfortunate as when we arrived back home we discovered the SLR had a fault and had been letting in light so a lot of photos were ruined.
With this in mind in the autumn of 2003 we decided to buy a digital camera. An HP PhotoSmart C945 5MP and 8 x optical zoom with a 5 cm colour LCD display. It was not cheap, but neither was it the most expensive camera around. It took 4 AA batteries so wasn’t all that light either, plus you had to carry a charger around with you.
A few years later we moved on to better bridge cameras – the OH bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 to replace the Canon and I went for a Fujifilm S8000fd with 8MP and an 18 x zoom as I loved my compact Fuji. We also had a little Nikon Coolpix for when the OH went abroad and didn’t want the hassle of carrying a larger camera. And why is it as soon as you decide on a make and model a newer version comes out weeks after you have bought it? I’m not sure my photography improved, but the number of shots I took certainly escalated.
Photography was becoming serious now. And seriously expensive! I even took out a subscription for a camera magazine for a year and read every review about DSLRs and the mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, but I remained indecisive. In 2011 I upgraded to a Fuji FinePix HS20 EXR which had 16 MP and 30 x zoom and everything was good until I became quite obsessed with flower photography.
For decades I had a garden and although no plantswoman I enjoyed getting out there each week and growing and planting things. When I no longer had a garden we started visiting public gardens around the country and even when on holiday and I started to develop a passion for flowers and insects on flowers and especially close-ups. What I really wanted of course, was a Macro lens. And no bridge camera was going to give me that, which led to my first digital mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses. I wanted something small enough to put in a handbag if necessary so the Olympus OM-D E-M10 with a pancake lens was ideal. Followed swiftly by the Macro lens.
Over the past eight years I have been blogging, initially to have a place to store all these digital photos and write about my trips whilst I could remember them, then to share favourite walks and gardens and join in with photo challenges and even record the development of the garden I eventually got. I have learned a lot from my fellow bloggers, some of whom are the most talented photographers. Now I am pretty addicted to photography; I still don’t understand all the technical aspects, but I like to think that over the years I have improved and that now I am more discerning. I take my time when composing a shot. I even walk away if I can’t get what I want.
My photographic journey has been long and slow, but there are still moments out there to capture, improvements to make and memories to return to.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #133 |photo journey
TRAVEL WORDS 
A wonderful story. The early digital cameras were horrendously expensive for what they could do and frankly we are spoiled for choice now. I forget who it was who said his notebook was his camera – or vice versa – and it is very appropriate. I am rereading Susan Sontag’s treatise On Photography and she says photography is an inventory of mortality, or something like that. I have drifted in and out of photography over the years but now it has become part of my life. Having a passion like flowers is the perfect justification for a new camera – long may you continue your photographic journey.
Thank you Andrew. My camera has definitely been my notebook since I started travelling again back in 1998. That’s an excellent way of thinking about photography. And now we have such good cameras on our phones it’s much easier to record life. Trust you are well and keeping safe in this traumatic time.
I enjoyed the journey with you, Jude. It’s laughable looking back at those postage stamp images, but those and memories are all we had for the longest time. But we were young and it didn’t really matter. A lot of time spent looking back, treasuring the past now, with the future so uncertain. You do take the most beautiful photos now though 🙂 🙂
Aw, thanks Jo. I have come a long way since the beginning, but I do think a good camera helps. Now thinking about what to do with those old photos. The kids won’t want them.
As my family’s de facto historian can I plead that you don’t get rid of all your old photos; your kids may not want them but the grandkids might. I have so few photos of my forebears and their lives, and am so envious of T’s huge stash of family photos.
I’ll keep the family ones, but ditch the photos that have no meaning like leaves and flowers 😊
😀 that makes sense.
What a wonderful journey Jude, and you’re amazing to remember all the cameras you had. The sign of a true photographer along with your wonderful talent.
Well I haven’t had that many cameras. Only got serious once I started being able to travel more. I’m happy with what I have now. Just need to get back to travelling!
That’s a really interesting story. I’ve been looking at photo from the old days this week – and binning many of them – I can’t believe how bad some of them are. But it’s tales like yours that convince me that I’ll remain a snaphot-ist. I really can’t get excited by all the technical stuff when modern cameras do such a good job on automatic. There are times when I miss out, but on balance – I’m happy. And you too were once an au pair in Switzerland? We’ll have to compare notes one day. I wasn’t at all happy there, having previously had a high old time as an au pair in Italy.
I need to bin a load of old photos too. The kids won’t want them. And I rarely stray from automatic either. Only with the macro lens as that can be tricky. My time as an au pair wasn’t much fun either, but I did like Geneva.
As I liked Zurich. But I didn’t like being treated as a servant. I’d been a family member in Italy.
I spent a few weeks in Zurich too! Whilst a friend went on holiday. I hardly saw the parents. Maybe it is a Swiss thing? Though the people I worked for in Geneva were British and Italian.
A wonderful post about your photographic journey and some good old photos there. I keep saying I’m going to scan my old photos. I’ve done a few.
I have a Canon PowerShot but still prefer my S10 phone 😂
The old square ones don’t scan that well and to be truthful there are a lot of really bad photos among that lot! I should just weed out the not so bad ones and bin the rest. Same goes for digital images, but they are somewhat easier to delete if only I had the time to go through them all.
I’ve taken a lot of very bad photos to a photo shop nearby and the man there did an amazing job, better than my scanner
Dear Jude, what a wonderful collection of photos 🙂 and its amazing to follow it together with your words, it makes much more sense 🙂 have a great weekend and cheers from Lisbon, PedroL
Thanks PedroL – you have a good weekend too!
Thanks Jude 🙂 PedroL
Ah, I enjoyed reading your ‘journey’… At the end of the day, it’s each individuals choice as to how technical they want to get
I came relatively late to photography. I didn’t even own a camera until I was 22, and that was a cartridge Kodak, along with ‘flashcubes’. Then when I got maried in 1977, aged 25, my wife was a keen photographer, with a Praktica manual camera, and just a 50mm lens. She took all the photos. I didn’t buy another camera until 1985, a Canon T50 SLR with a 35-70 zoom. Then once I had that, I couldn’t stop buying them! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
Oh, yes. The flashcubes! So why aren’t you taking many photos now? Or do you, but just not post them?
I haven’t taken any photos since last September in Lincolnshire. Along with reading books, I appear to have just lost the desire. Hopefully, it will return, as I still have to properly use that Nikon Z5 that I got free for testing it on Amazon. x
I believe this is the my first encounter with the word plantswoman.
😁
So interesting Jude – I’m not very technical I’m afraid and rely on auto settings far too much. Your photos are superb – all the effort you have put in has really paid off! Old photos are part of memories so I don’t like to get rid of them but I have boxes of photos I have no idea what to do with!
I agree about the memories, but I still need to cull those old photos! I have already given most of the children’s photos to them, as they are the ones that interest them and nice to show to their own children.
Yes I love seeing old photos of relatives – I certainly wouldn’t throw out family ones but I can’t give them to my kids yet as they haven’t really got the space to store them! I show them to my granddaughters when they come over. I’ve also got photos of previous generations that I gradually brought over from the UK when we could still travel and recently my dad has mailed me a lot more!