A Photographer's Journey

You never know how far you have travelled unless you know where you started from. This is the start of my journey into "serious" photography.

I have been a keen hobbyist photographer for many years - taking snaps of family and friends, holidays and, occasionally, deliberately venturing out to take a photo of “something special”.  For more years than I care to remember I was using a film camera - where I found the big disconnect between taking the photo and getting the results back meant I couldn’t link what I did to the results I got. Also you didn’t want to experiment too much because ofthe cost of film and processing. Even when I moved to digital I rarely moved out of the automatic settings in the camera resulting in me being a “snapper with a DSLR” Nothing wrong with that but I have always wanted to be more tha that and take spectacular images that you see in magazines.  As a result over the past few years I have been learning more about my camera, what it can do and how what I do changes the image. So far I have:

• Expanded and tested my skills across different subject matters through the Practical Photography Camera School courses. Very good for understanding which settings to use and put the learning in to practice but limited feedback

• Started showcasing my work with others photographers on 500px. Again you get an impression of what works through your likes etc but other feedback is non-existent

• Learnt more through YouTube tutorials. One of the best sites I have found is Mike Browne’s - excellent resource and practice not gear focussed. Requires you to be motivated to put things you watch into practice but a very useful starting point

• Started post processing my images - very basic at this stage, mainly adjusting exposure and colour balance

These have made a difference and I can see how my photos have changed - but it needs a kick to take me on to the next stage if I am going to take the spectacular images that I want to.  As a result I have made some new year resolutions to be more deliberate about my photography. Namely to:

• Join a local camera club

• Take a photography course

• Learn how to post process images well

• Book time for dedicated photography trips - either full days or a lunchtime photo walk

• Post at least one image a week to 500px and Instagram

• Set up a website and blog (think I can tick that off my list now!)

I’ll be writing about my experiences and posting images over the next year so you can see how I get on and what works for me.