Photography

During Lockdown I have been busy scanning many hundreds of rolls of film and slides dating back to 1975. It will take some months (and even years) to process these and gradually get them ready for viewing, so expect new sets to be added regularly.

I would not describe myself as a photographer but I certainly enjoy taking photographs. I suppose I am an enthusiastic amateur. I like to record events like parties, weddings, holidays and so forth. I am quite sure that back in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s I may have been considered a bit of a nuisance as I usually had a camera of some sort with me and at the time some people did not like having someone snapping away. In my experience though those same people are glad now that I did, as in many cases there would be no visual record of people and events.

An old girlfriend of mine once pointed out that if I am not very good at something I don’t even attempt it. This was one of those comments that could be taken two ways, either as a negative or a positive aspect of my character. In any event this was quite perceptive of her and she is quite right, whether I like it or not! Whilst I know little about the technical side of photography I am a perfectionist in all things and seem to have an eye for a good shot; I see interesting shapes, colours and juxtapositions, sometimes in the most mundane things.

Photographs appearing on this website are usually low resolution compared to the originals. I often cut images to 1,024 pixels on the long side and about 80 per cent of their original quality. Please ask me if you would like copies of the full images.

Since digital photography came along everything changed. All of a sudden it did not matter how many shots you took as you were no longer forking out for film and developing. Incidentally, on the subject of developing, I used to send a lot of my films off to York Photo – they went under various trade names and were, I believe, the largest company of its kind for many years. They just happened to be based in my home town of Newton Abbot!

These are two of my ‘old’ cameras – they still work but I’ve not used them since 2016. The Canon EOS 450D was my digital camera for many years, replacing the Canon film camera I had before that. Also in the picture is my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 – a ‘bridge’ camera I thought would be handy for trips abroad or where I did not want to carry a full-sized camera. However, I was never really impressed with the results. Since 2016 I have used my Sony A6300 and I am very pleased with it.

I’ve never been able to afford a really good camera and for most of the time I considered myself lucky to have a Canon camera – analog for many years and then digital – I enjoyed Canon immensely and still miss them. When digital settled down and became good I bought a Canon camera again; it was what I was used to and I was in my comfort zone. In 2016 I was able to purchase a new Sony digital camera and I have to say I am very pleased with it, and especially the Sony Zeiss lens that cost more than the body!

Like most people I take a lot of photos on a smartphone. I actually had a smart phone back in 2002 – it was an O2 XDA and well ahead of its time, but it did not take photographs. When Steve Jobs showed off the first iPhone back in 2007 I was hooked – I just had to have one! I’m afraid I’m a bit of a sap when it comes to gadgets. I’ve had many iPhone’s since that first one and I think the one I have now – the 13 Pro Max – has an astonishingly good set of cameras. Whilst the iPhone is actually very good for all sorts of photography I reach for the Sony when I need to do something just a bit special.