My love of photography goes way back to the 1980’s when I was a kid and bought a 110 camera from Woolies! To be honest I cannot remember much of what I took with it. But it wasn’t long till I bought my first SLR.

I bought my first SLR Camera because a friend had one. His was a high end Minolta. Mine was a cheap Zenit, fully mechanical camera made in the USSR (Russia). Man it was a clunky old thing. It would sometimes jam and other times it failed to roll on to the next frame giving you a double exposed shot. Which sometimes ended up looking pretty cool and other times a complete mess. It was fully Manual as well, which I now appreciate as it gave me an understanding of balancing the speed, aperture and ISO (Light Sensor). A few years later I bought myself a better camera. It was a Pentax P30.

Back then you had to take care when taking photos as your roll of film had a limit of 12, 24 or 36 photos to take. I would always try and take an extra shot at the end that you could occasionally get away with. Then you would take the roll to a processing store for them to send away and you would get it back in a week or 2. Then it reduced to 24 hours and then in the 1990’s 1 hour processing became the norm. Now of course we have digital cameras as well as phones.

Around the time of digital cameras just coming out (Early 2000’s), I was about to go overseas and carrying around my SLR camera and lenses was out of the question. They were just too big and heavy. So I got myself a small compact film camera; as digitals cameras were still too pricey. But that’s where my “love” of photography really started.

It all began when I showed a series of prints to a professional photographer. He was quickly flipping through them, when he stopped, and just stared at one for quite a while, tipping his head side to side, pulling it away and back close again, and told me, “This is a good photo! The composition and leading lines are great”. It was of a bike track in The Netherlands. His praise stuck with me, and the things he pointed out stuck as well. So the photo you see below, while not being very sharp due to being scanned from a printed photo, is the photo that really piqued my interest in photography, and when taking a landscape photo is what I base my photos on. It is still one of my favourite photos!

Those who have known me forever, know that I have a love for planes. It was all I took photos of for a while. When I was able to get my first digital compact camera I really did not do my research, and did not have a big budget, and the compact I got really did not meet my needs. Trying to capture a sharp photos of flying or stationary planes just wasn’t happening. In fact it just didn’t take good photos at all.

So I needed to upgrade but still did not have the coin for a DSLR camera. So I did my research this time and found a really good camera. A Lumix (Panasonic) – This camera was not fully automatic like the Olympus. This allowed me to set it at high speeds and capture photos like this jet coming into Adelaide.

But having this new camera allowed me to start delving into other areas of photography. I discovered I really like Landscape Photography. Especially the seaside. I used to go out with a retired friend who also loved his photography. The shot you see below really got me hungry for a DSLR Camera.

We had just come back from one of our outings (where the photo above was taken) when I told him “I wish I could afford a DSLR”. – He immediately told me a friend of ours was wanting to sell his camera. So I went around to see him and he was selling it for $350. It came with 2 lenses, a kit bag, and a tripod. I felt like I was ripping him off. I had seen prices of similar products and made him take $400. It was worth it. I now had a DSLR camera.

One of the first places I went was Morialta Falls. I wanted to use this newish camera for having more flexibility than the compact I had. In the 2 photos below you can see what you can accomplish when setting different shutter speeds at a waterfall. You’ll see in the first photo that the water looks almost frozen in time. But in the 2nd you can see a more flowing look.

But walking through this beautiful park opened my eyes to other opportunities. Through out the park there are many birds and wildlife. Including koalas!

This got me wanting to expand my photography circle. So I went wandering and exploring places I had not been. One place I discovered on the road between Port Wakefield and Balaklava is a subject I have shared with you a few times. The Farmhouse!

That then got me interested in old buildings. One place I discovered at the same time as “The Farmhouse” was Grace Plains Methodist Church. I took a few shots of it. A friend who is a professional photographer in The USA commented on this shot below. He said the driveway leads your eyes to the church. Which was good as it was exactly what I was aiming for.

But I didn’t stop there. I became interested in bird photography as well. I live near a park where there are an abundance of Rainbow Lorikeets, Magpies and many other birds. The Magpies were easy to capture, but the Lorikeets are speedy little things. So I decided to start saving for a new camera. A friend had a Canon. Now while I could not afford the camera he had I had saved enough to invest in a decent new camera. He mentioned that we could still share lenses when we needed to. So I went down the path of getting a Canon.

Now I was regularly seeing Rainbow Lorikeet zipping past my home. And try as I may, I could never capture them in flight. It was not until I was wondering through the Adelaide Botanic Gardens that I saw them drinking from the fountain there. The Photos were nothing fantastic. But it showed me that you need to keep exploring new opportunities. Another awesome place to capture these spectacular birds is Gorge Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills. The fountain and Wildlife Park also gave me the chance to capture these beautiful birds still and in flight!

Continuing on with Birds and Gorge Wildlife Park. I was up there one day trying to get a colourful photo of a Peacock. But I just could not capture one with the sun shining on it. However there were a few albino peacocks wandering around the park. One decided to spread its plumage not far from me. I captured a few shots of it. I converted it to a Black & White photo, as there were still tinges of yellow in its plumage. I really like how it came out so I entered it into a competition called The Mono Awards. A Black and White photo competition. I did not win, but received a high commendation from a panel of judges.

So I was having a lot of fun with my phototgraphy but I wanted to keep learning more. That’s when I came across Astro Photography… But I will leave that to Part 2 as I feel this blog is long enough already. But I will leave you with one of my “Yeah!” photos. One of those that make you happy you have a camera in your hand, or in this case on your tripod.

So I hope this has not been too boring. I will get started on part 2. In the meantime get out there and remember to WANDER – EXPLORE – DISCVOER new places!

My Photography Story – Part 2