First Diary Entry


Day One


I have always had a love of photographs; from the old black & white ones my Mother showed me of passed family members (with me catching the excitement from her voice as she recounted memories of some of the people) to the wonder I feel as I look on a photograph capturing the beauty, diversity and complexity of our modern lives. My interest lies mainly in architecture, landscape and street photography, although wildlife photography is something I aspire to. For years, I have looked at something and thought "that would make a great photo", picked up my little point-and-shoot (compact) camera, clicked the button and felt that sinking feeling as I realise the result I'm looking at is nothing like the intended outcome. I always blamed the equipment (of course) and thought if I ever came into some money I would buy the best camera in the world and prove that I'm a master! Ok, so I didn't come into any money, but I did save up enough to invest in a bridge camera (a Fujitsu Fujifilm HS30EXR). On the day it arrived, I opened the box, took out this wonder instrument which was going to help me set the world alight with my amazing talent, looked at it and thought "I have absolutely NO idea how this thing works!" This is the problem with having a logical brain; I can't just try something to see what happens, I have to plan and explore rationally, with a complete instruction book and knowledge of EXACTLY how it works.

So, I did what every intelligent woman does... I read the instruction booklet! That didn't give me many answers; in fact it raised a whole load more questions - what exactly is ISO? Depth of field what? Manual focus...erm....

It became clear that there is a bit more to this photographic lark than having a decent camera, so I switched on my faithful computer and delved headfirst into the murky world of online resources! One migraine later, I took a step back and asked myself what I want out of all this, how committed am I? I was quite surprised at the answer - I really hate being in front of the camera, I think photographs I come into contact with in my normal life are awful and I'm sure, with a little learning, I can do much better and fundamentally, I'm bored! The last bit scared me a little; I currently hold down a full-time job. If I'm bored now, what the heck am I going to be like when I retire (ok, the government is pushing back the retirement age daily it seems, but because of the nature of my job, a time will come when employers decide that someone younger is going to be more dynamic, have better ideas and will be a safer bet!)

So, that revelation made up my mind for me. I would venture into this photographic world and find out, as quickly and cheaply as possible, whether or not I have an eye for a good photo. With this answered, I can then maybe sink a bit more money and a heck of a lot more time and effort into honing skills and learning techniques so that I can be happy capturing the world around me when that world starts to throw me on the rubbish heap!

So, armed with my trusty HS30EXR (and my compact camera - reasons to be included in another dairy entry) I set out to learn how to be an amateur photographer. I had a feeling this was not going to be a quick lesson......


Photography is a lot like Poker...