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 
Loved your story Jude, thanks so much for sharing it with us! My goodness, you have REALLY seen so much of the world! Your flower images are always beautiful so it was great fun seeing how you eventually got to them 😊 – but I must ask, is OH your Other Half? Or have I totally misinterpreted?!
OH is indeed the other half and thanks for your lovely comment Tina. I must admit that I more than ready for some new vistas now.
Enjoy reading your journey, Jude. Thank you for sharing these fabulous photos.
I love your landscape images, especially the beach walk capture. The macro shot is stunning!
A pleasure to join you this week Amy, just in time! I must go and take a look at Tina’s challenge now.
Thanks, Jude, for this interesting story.
Glad you enjoyed it Pit.
Interesting to read about your photo journey, Jude, and see the progress in your pictures. I had a Kodak Instamatic too. These days, if my iPhone can’t do it I leave it to John! The family photos are adorable. If I don’t look too closely that could be me and my dad!
What a wonderful journey you have been on. Your photos were fun to see. 😀
Thanks Cee 😁
I have to confess that I am using my phone camera far more than the camera these days. All my recent clouds were taken on the phone, so much easier to carry with me on a walk.
Wow, they are fabulous!
Wonderful, Jude – you really had a marvelous journey to so many countries, through so many cameras and to love your gardens and flowers! Thank you so much for joining in! Just love your flowers and close-ups.
Thank you. I really would like to travel again now though, I have been stuck in Cornwall for far too long for one reason and another. Time to explore other areas.
I must agree – I’d love some new views now…
Very interesting to read about your photographic journey. Blogging certainly gave me a good reason to think more carefully about how I use my camera.
Blogging for me at first was mainly to record my trips and store photos, the photo challenges helped me connect with other bloggers and now I do think about what it is I want to show.
What a great photographic journey you have had over the years jude, it made such interesting reading. Made me think back to my first “box brownie” How lucky we are to now have the digital age and unlimited photos and instantly able to asses them and retake if necessary. Great to see the progression, over the years, in the photos too.
Thanks Pauline. I like to think that my photography has improved from being simple snapping anything to actually thinking about what I want my photos to say to people. I still take too many shots, but I hope I am getting better.
Definitely getting better Jude. Though the early snapshots certainly bring back memories
This post was really enjoyable, Jude to see the contrast as you developed skills and a love of photography. It must have been a special occasion for the childhood snaps as they weren’t a priority for many families?. Love the old photos and what a cutie 🙂 The older photos seem more special to me, since the digital age I have deleted so many photos which I thought weren’t so good or of the same subject. Quality over quantity is my motto!
I totally agree Suzanne about the digital photos. I really need to cull a lot of those – we have so many of trees and leaves that are not especially good. But finding the time is the problem. I think I need to stop taking photos for a year so I don’t continue to accumulate any more!
I enjoyed reading your journey. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading it Dawn 🙂
Yours’s is an interesting story, and your photos are just amazing now! The Knysna photo is stunning! My Dad liked his photography and he was the family photographer, mainly black and whites in those days, plus he had a Super8 so luckily I have lots of photos from those days – even one of my folks on honeymoon in their old Morris, being chased by an elephant! I think I inherited the love of photography from him. Seeing your flower photos reminds me that I cam across your blog years ago and loved seeing those photos. That was WAY before I even thought about trying my hand at blogging!
Photographs definitely hold lots of memories, even the bad shots. I have a pile of oldies of people I haven’t a clue about. But it’s hard to throw people photos away.
I agree with you there!