Blog #2: So, How Did I Get Here?

It started in the late '80s or early '90s. I was just a kid with a film camera, and not in a charming "young prodigy" kind of way. I would grab a grown ups camera and use it, which of course was an issue for a five/six year old in the 80's as each frame cost money to develop!

My earliest effort at photography in 1987? On some kind of 126 format film camera.

I went to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo with my grandpa, armed with my dad’s Fujica ST901 SLR, feeling like I absolutely knew what I was doing. I remember laughing at all the tourists firing their flashes from the top row of the stadium, convinced they were wasting their time while I was down there doing serious work. In hindsight, I probably got just as many overexposed bagpipes and blurry fireworks as anyone else. But in my head? I was basically on assignment for National Geographic.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo maybe 1996? - Shot on dads ST901

Donington Park with the ST901 - again, mid 90's

By the late ‘90s, I’d graduated to the absolute pinnacle of photographic innovation: Advantix Kodak film. Supposedly advanced, probably just confusing. And then came early digital, those glorious 2-megapixel plastic bricks that promised the future and delivered JPEGs the size of postage stamps. Red-eye in every shot, batteries that lasted nine minutes, and image quality that made everything look like it was taken on a potato. But we loved them. Because… technology.

18th December 2012, I picked up my first mirrorless camera: the Sony NEX-5R. Not that I knew it was mirrorless, or had the faintest clue what that even meant. I just knew it looked a bit futuristic and I could change the lens (Not that I ever did). That was good enough for me.

Most of its life was spent rattling around Europe inside a peli case on snowboarding trips, snapping powder days, mountains, and après carnage. The case protected the camera perfectly. Me, not so much. I landed on that hard shell more than once, and I can confirm it does nothing to soften a fall. Still, the camera survived, and I mostly did too.

The Sony Nex5r - and the bastard back breaking, camera protecting peli-case

Fast forward to late 2020. We were expecting our daughter, so I took the leap and upgraded to the Sony A7iii, on recommendation from my mate and former colleague Junior. Thing is, despite having this powerhouse of a camera, I didn’t really bother learning how to use it. From 2020 to early 2025, I stayed firmly in auto mode. Didn’t understand composition. Didn’t care much about aperture or shutter speed. In fact, I was so engaged that I didn’t even touch the camera for the whole of 2024. Meanwhile, my iPhone 13 Pro Max (and later the 16 Pro Max) did all the heavy lifting, usually in the form of random family snaps and crappy sunsets.

Then came February 2025. I spent a week in Arctic Norway with Junior, and something changed.

That’s where it all finally clicked. I started learning the exposure triangle properly. Got to grips with composition. Discovered ND filters, long exposure, drone photography, you name it. I went out as a guy with a decent camera and came back as someone obsessed. Also, to Junior: I apologise for the relentless snoring. I’m sure sharing a cabin with a human chainsaw wasn’t part of the photography experience you signed up for.

Since landing back from the Arctic, it’s taken over. I only shoot in full manual now. I actively look for reasons to go take photos, whether it's a landscape, an old building, or a spiderweb on a locked gate. I've even fallen down the rabbit hole of vintage cameras, where half the fun is not knowing if your light seals are disintegrating (yeah had to learn what they were!) or if your subject is even in focus.

And so here we are. I'm not here pretending to be a pro. I'm just figuring it out, one shutter click, one dodgy focus, one overexposed disaster at a time.

Apparently, I’m a camera guy now, and I’m doing it one mistake at a time.