I have been doing photography properly for a few years now. When I say 'properly' I mean going out to new locations purely for the reason of taking photos. I have had an assortment of cameras since I was small, but in the early days they were just point and shoot cameras, and I took snaps to remember days out. The pictures were always an after thought and never the sole reason I went anywhere.
Holiday in Leicestershire (2012)
When I first met my partner (somewhere in 2008 I think?), we realised we both had something in common, and that was a deep enjoyment of being outdoors, and exploring new places. In those early days when we started dating, we didn't go to the cinema or to restaurants... we went to a selection of different nature reserves. To begin with we just walked around and talked. We both had rubbish cameras and we would pause occasionally to take rubbish pictures of flowers or butterflies.
Grass seeds (2012)
Swans (2013)
As the years passed we grew increasingly disappointed with the poor quality shots that we were getting. We were also starting to compare our pictures to professional pictures in magazines. I looked at getting a DSLR camera... but at the time I wasn't sure if I could justify the expense. I didn't want to fork out all of that money and then not get the use out of it.
Stock Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_PowerShot_SX50_HS
I ended up choosing this Bridge Camera. It was the perfect compromise between versatility (imrpoved image quality and an enormous zoom reach) and price. It was one of the more expensive bridge cameras when I bought it, but I got a lot of camera for that money.
Grey Squirrel at Hartsholme Park (2014)
The Zoom was equivalent to something like 1200mm which at the time was huge. To get the same amount of zoom using a DSLR camera will cost you thousands, and I had access to that for under £400. Image Quality still suffered at full zoom as you can see in the image of the Squirrel.
Peacock (2015)
However this Peacock was closer so I did not need to use the zoom, and the picture does look better. It was around this point that my views towards photography changed. Instead of just taking snaps while we were out and about, we were now planning trips, and choosing places to visit, purely to take pretty pictures of various things.
Street signs on Steep Hill, Lincoln (2015)
About this time I found myself becoming limited by my camera again. As a photographer I find my standards keep increasing, and what I once considered to be a 'good' image, is no longer the case. Looking back through my archives to find images for this article, there are some seriously cringe worthy images... I daren't share them here haha!
It was time again to upgrade my equipment, and having taken nearly 30,000 images in the space of 3 years of the Bridge Camera, I had proven to myself that I had I had the long term interest in photography. Therefore it was obvious that the next step was to invest in a DSLR camera.
I did my research, and decided to buy the 'best' body I could afford: a Canon 760D. I paired that with an 18-55mm 'kit lens' and a 70-300 zoom. Now I finally had the quality I was after, and another plus with the upgrade to a DSLR was that I had more control over my settings.
All of my previous cameras were mostly semi-automatic. I would choose landscape mode or portrait mode (or sports, macro, night etc...) but i never really had control over the settings. The bridge camera enabled me to change the shutter and the ISO, but I was still limited creatively.
Dame's Violet flowers (2016)
This new DSLR was a huge step-up in quality and difficulty. And because I don't like making it easy for myself, I went straight onto the Full Manual mode, where I can control every single aspect of the shot. F-stop, White balance, you name it, I changed it...
Stained Glass Windows, Lincoln Cathedral (2017)
Those first 6 months were awful, and my pictures were awful. Blurred, under-exposed, over-exposed, out of focus, weird shadows, weird colours.... pretty much any mistake I could make, I did make.
But it was worth persevering. Those first 6 months was a baptism of fire, but I came out of it a much better photographer, and one who understood how his camera worked. And after putting the effort in to learn how my equipment worked I can now react quickly and appropriately to the situation in front of me.
Sunset at Formby Beach, Liverpool (2017)
Its now been 4 years since those first DSLR images, and in that time I have collected a selection of lenses, some new, some second-hand. I have discarded the 70-300mm as its no longer good enough, and replaced it with the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary. It is flippin' outstanding and I love it. But the lens starts at 150mm which is great for distance shots but not for close up pictures.
I needed a new lens for working up close, and after a bit of research I decided to go for the 24-105mm L series. It had the zoom range I needed, and as canon L series lens it had the quality too. I found out that there was a second hand one available in a local camera shop (for less than £400 it was a steal!)
I phoned ahead and made sure it was still availble for sale, and they agreed to reserve it for me. When I headed into town to have a look, and to test it out, I noticed that there was a 5DmkII also available to buy 2nd hand.
I had already added the Canon 5D to a potential wishlist for the future. It would be a considerable step up again, featuring a full-frame sensor, and aimed at professional photographers. There are are now 4 versions available (the mark 1 is the original, every couple of years a new version is released. The Mark lV is the latest, and at nearly £2500 is way out of my price range.
This older Mark ll version was very reasonably priced, and in a moment of weakness that most photographers know... I bought it as well!
So there you have it. A long and slightly rambling look at my 'journey' in photography from those rubbish little cameras, all the way up to the 'professional' Canon 5D. I would like to think that I have got better as a photogrpaher over the past 10 years, but I'll let you judge that...
Slightly frustratingly, I purchased the 5DMarkll a few weeks before the whole coronavirus lockdowwn started, so I have had very little chance to actually play with it. And I really do need to practise, the quality is a huge step up, but the camera is physically 10 years old, and so all the buttons are in different places compared to the previous camera.
The next few posts here will hopefully feature the new camera... watch this space!
Other than the stock image for the Bridge Camera, every other image is my own (taken on a selection of different cameras)