I have been taking photographs all my life, right from an early age of around 5 or 6 I had one of the old 110 cameras. I then got a 35mm compact, before receiving a 35mm SLR camera for my 12th birthday. The Camera that I got, and the one that I still use today, (with a few added extras!!) is a Minolta x-300s. It came in a kit with lots of attachments, and it really got my imagination going, and that was when I really became interested in photography.
I properly began though in 1997,and then in 1998 I enrolled in a night class, studying for a GCSE in Photography. I completed the course in the summer of 1999, and achieved an A grade. I was then persuaded by the GCSE teacher to go for the A Level, which he was going to be teaching the following year. I agreed and completed that in the summer of 2000, and achieved a B grade, which I am very happy about. I have put my actual A level submitted photos onto this site, they start here. The A level was a lot tougher than the GCSE, mainly because it had a 3 hour exam at the end of it, and I had to learn about the history, and technical side of photography. Whereas the GCSE was completly practical.
My current kit: I am still using the very first SLR camera that I was bought, I have just added to it! I now have 2 camera bodies, both minolta x-300s, and both completly manual, but at least I can blame myself and not the camera for bad photos! I bought the second one while doing the A level, so I could take photos at the same time on 2 different films, but still use the same lenses. The lenses that I have are; a 28-70, which came with the original camera; a 70-210; a 24, wide angle; and a x2 converter. I have 2 flash guns; one dedicated that came with the original camera; and a slave unit, which can be used off camera as a second flash, or on the hot shoe connection of the camera. I also have 3 tripods; the original basic one that came with the original camera; a bigger and better one, with a 3 way pan and tilt head, and quick release platform, and 2 platforms (one for each camera); and also a small table top one, for added stability, in usually hand-held situations.
Other extras that I have are a range of about 50 filters, which vary from neutral density ones, to help cut out light, to mad pure effects ones, like a diffraction one which splits any points of light into a rainbow. I also have are a cable release which I mainly use for night time photography, where the shutter times are much longer, and even pressing the on camera release gently could cause camera shake. I also use it when taking long exposure shots of moving water, where the objects around the water must be pin sharp, to offer enough contrast. I also have a zoom slide copier, which is very useful for copying slide to slide , slide to print, and also with an attachment I have I can turn negatives into slides, by re photographing them onto negative film, which then leaves a positive image. I also have a slide viewer (small), and a slide projector, which is especially useful because it has a built in screen in the top, which means that I can look at my slides in daylight, and without having to get out a huge screen as well.
One of my favourite photographers is an Englishman called Andy Rouse, He is a wildlife photographer, and has just recently had a television series all about him and his photography on channel 5, his second series is due to be screened in november 2000. You can find out more about him, and his photography at his website~ http://www.andyrouse.co.uk
My other favourite photographers include Ansel Adams, who I admire for his dedication to getting the perfect photograph, from the actual taking of the photo, through to developing the negative, and then producing the print from it. He was constantly looking at the amount of light in the image, and the balance of light and shadow in the finished prints. He took mainly what is now called straight photographs. These are images that are although technically perfect, just like the view that anyone could see.
Another favourite of mine is Edward Weston, who took a lot of abstract images, he is known for photos that he took of the human form, in a series called nudes.
I will be adding more to this page soon!
Click here to view Seascape b+w photographs
Click here to view Architecture colour photographs
Click here to view Natural Close Up colour photographs
Click here to see Andy Rouse's site
