My photographic history began when my father gave me his Ensign Ful-Vue camera when I was twelve years old. This camera took 12 - 2¼" x 2¼" negs on 120 roll film.
It was used to take pictures of my baby sister & other family members.
The father of a mate had a darkroom, and processed the film at minimal cost.
This nurtured an interest in the mysteries of developing and printing.
Later I acquired a Voigtländer Bessa bellows style folding camera. 3¼" x 2¼", which also used 120 roll film.. This served me well for a couple of years, before I made the move to 35mm with the purchase of a Zeiss Werramat. (Which I still have). I then started to take colour slides on Kodachrome 25 film..
In 1968 I got serious about B & W and bought my first SLR, a somewhat manual Praktika, plus a Weston Master V light meter. At about this time I joined The Wimbledon Photographic Society and competed in their monthly competitions, with some successes. By now I was processing my own prints in a makeshift shared darkroom.
February 1970 - Big change in my destiny - I moved from London to Sydney.
Soon after the move, the Praktika was traded in for a Minolta SRT101 with 58mm f1.4 lens. Initially I bought a Tamron Zoom lens (don't remember it's range), but this was not up to the task, as I was then printing 20" x 16". Not easy from 35mm. So this led to an investment in Rokkor prime lenses. A 28mm f3.5 , a 135mm 2.8. & later
a 200mm f4.5. My enlarger also had a Rokkor 50mm lens.
This was to be my lens line-up for many years.
In Sydney, I made inquiries about local camera clubs. As I was living in Cremorne at that time, it was recommended that I go to Mosman Camera Club, which I subsequently joined in March 1970. I am now a life member there.
In the early 1970's I competed successfully in B & W prints, & to a lesser extent, colour slides. As it became more difficult to print large images due to lack of space, I switched to colour slides. Now using faster Fujichrome 100.
I stayed with Minolta for about 30 years & I still have an SRT101 & an XG-M. I changed to Nikon in 2001 when I bought an FM2 with the inherent need for more lenses. A Tamron zoom was again part of the kit. A 28-300mm. As I was no longer printing large images it's performance was acceptable. (I still occasionally use it).
Late 2004 I got dragged into the digital age when I was loaned a Fujifilm camera in the hope that I would get hooked on digital and buy it. The result was I got hooked alright, but I then bought myself a Nikon D70 and handed the Fujifilm camera back. My next dilemma,; I now had a DSLR but I didn't have a computer. So for a while my images were committed to CD,s on a friends computer. Biting the bullet, my next purchase was a desktop computer, followed by an A3+ Epson printer. For the first time I was able to print A3 colour prints. WOW.
I found that the humble 5.1 Megapixels on the D70 was good for A3's, no worries.
Currently I use a Nikon D7000 with a D200 as back-up. I also have a D60 body, which is much lighter to carry.
Lenses these days are 10-20mm Sigma zoom, 50mm f1.8 Nikkor, 60mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor, 18-200mm Nikkor zoom, 28-300mm Tamron zoom.
I also have a 1.4 x tele converter.
Of course I now needed software to process & store all this digital stuff.
My first management program was Picasa, and manipulation with Paintshop Pro 7
& Photosuite III.
I soon acquired a bootleg copy of Photoshop CS & Later CS4, also bootleg.
I now run Lightroom 5 and a legit copy of Photoshop CS6. Topaz & Nik plug-ins are used too.
Once I started to produce A3 colour prints, I considered joining another camera club
to give my work another outlet.
As I had been visiting Pittwater Camera Club occasionally for special presentations, this was the logical choice for me. So I joined PCC some time in 2005.
I soon found myself in the role of projectionist, when slides were still going strong.
Inevitably digital took over and I became co-ordinator of digital projection for competitions.
It was used to take pictures of my baby sister & other family members.
The father of a mate had a darkroom, and processed the film at minimal cost.
This nurtured an interest in the mysteries of developing and printing.
Later I acquired a Voigtländer Bessa bellows style folding camera. 3¼" x 2¼", which also used 120 roll film.. This served me well for a couple of years, before I made the move to 35mm with the purchase of a Zeiss Werramat. (Which I still have). I then started to take colour slides on Kodachrome 25 film..
In 1968 I got serious about B & W and bought my first SLR, a somewhat manual Praktika, plus a Weston Master V light meter. At about this time I joined The Wimbledon Photographic Society and competed in their monthly competitions, with some successes. By now I was processing my own prints in a makeshift shared darkroom.
February 1970 - Big change in my destiny - I moved from London to Sydney.
Soon after the move, the Praktika was traded in for a Minolta SRT101 with 58mm f1.4 lens. Initially I bought a Tamron Zoom lens (don't remember it's range), but this was not up to the task, as I was then printing 20" x 16". Not easy from 35mm. So this led to an investment in Rokkor prime lenses. A 28mm f3.5 , a 135mm 2.8. & later
a 200mm f4.5. My enlarger also had a Rokkor 50mm lens.
This was to be my lens line-up for many years.
In Sydney, I made inquiries about local camera clubs. As I was living in Cremorne at that time, it was recommended that I go to Mosman Camera Club, which I subsequently joined in March 1970. I am now a life member there.
In the early 1970's I competed successfully in B & W prints, & to a lesser extent, colour slides. As it became more difficult to print large images due to lack of space, I switched to colour slides. Now using faster Fujichrome 100.
I stayed with Minolta for about 30 years & I still have an SRT101 & an XG-M. I changed to Nikon in 2001 when I bought an FM2 with the inherent need for more lenses. A Tamron zoom was again part of the kit. A 28-300mm. As I was no longer printing large images it's performance was acceptable. (I still occasionally use it).
Late 2004 I got dragged into the digital age when I was loaned a Fujifilm camera in the hope that I would get hooked on digital and buy it. The result was I got hooked alright, but I then bought myself a Nikon D70 and handed the Fujifilm camera back. My next dilemma,; I now had a DSLR but I didn't have a computer. So for a while my images were committed to CD,s on a friends computer. Biting the bullet, my next purchase was a desktop computer, followed by an A3+ Epson printer. For the first time I was able to print A3 colour prints. WOW.
I found that the humble 5.1 Megapixels on the D70 was good for A3's, no worries.
Currently I use a Nikon D7000 with a D200 as back-up. I also have a D60 body, which is much lighter to carry.
Lenses these days are 10-20mm Sigma zoom, 50mm f1.8 Nikkor, 60mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor, 18-200mm Nikkor zoom, 28-300mm Tamron zoom.
I also have a 1.4 x tele converter.
Of course I now needed software to process & store all this digital stuff.
My first management program was Picasa, and manipulation with Paintshop Pro 7
& Photosuite III.
I soon acquired a bootleg copy of Photoshop CS & Later CS4, also bootleg.
I now run Lightroom 5 and a legit copy of Photoshop CS6. Topaz & Nik plug-ins are used too.
Once I started to produce A3 colour prints, I considered joining another camera club
to give my work another outlet.
As I had been visiting Pittwater Camera Club occasionally for special presentations, this was the logical choice for me. So I joined PCC some time in 2005.
I soon found myself in the role of projectionist, when slides were still going strong.
Inevitably digital took over and I became co-ordinator of digital projection for competitions.