About
'Owning a camera doesn’t make you a photographer’
Gabriel von Satzger
Gabriel von Satzger
Access to photography has never been easier. Digital cameras are becoming ever cheaper, mobile phone cameras are getting ever better, and the ease at which images can be published to the internet ever simpler, it seems everyone is becoming a ‘photographer’ whether it be party photos, selfies in front of landmarks or sitting in the rain for hours waiting for something special to happen.
My interest in photography goes back long before the advent of digital photography, to a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth, well sometimes it seems that way, certainly back to a time when film was sent to labs for processing and there was what seemed like an eternity before the pictures were returned. Despite encouragement at the time from my father, an established photographer in his own right, it didn't last and this turned out to be nothing more than a passing interest for me.
In the 1990's though, my interest in photography returned and I took it up a bit more seriously with a borrowed 35mm SLR camera and a small collection of lenses. This soon progressed to my own 35mm SLR then medium format camera. Tuition again came from my father and this time a local photography group. This was a time when Monochrome (Black and White) processing was readily available to enthusiasts, with many, myself included, having a home darkroom (usually a bathroom!). Colour processing was left to the more passionate or the processing labs. By the late 1990's I had achieved a few City & Guilds qualifications at Newcastle College which led to a Licentiate with the Royal Photographic Society (now lapsed!). Then once again the interest faded. I returned to photography some years later with a 4mp digital camera, this time the interest has remained and I now own a DSLR with a few lenses and a few more pixels and my darkroom is a much more convenient digital one.
Though I get great satisfaction from taking pictures I don’t regard myself as a photographer, it is not an addiction, and I don't 'have' to take photographs. I am an enthusiastic amateur taking photographs for a hobby simply because I enjoy it.
So, in a couple of paragraphs that's about it. As circumstances have changed I'm finding myself with a bit more time on my hands, so maybe now is the time for me to get a bit more serious about taking photographs. (or at least keep my website up to date!)
I'm not going to list my equipment other than to say I use a DSLR with a variety of lenses, filters and accessories suited to my interests.
My interest in photography goes back long before the advent of digital photography, to a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth, well sometimes it seems that way, certainly back to a time when film was sent to labs for processing and there was what seemed like an eternity before the pictures were returned. Despite encouragement at the time from my father, an established photographer in his own right, it didn't last and this turned out to be nothing more than a passing interest for me.
In the 1990's though, my interest in photography returned and I took it up a bit more seriously with a borrowed 35mm SLR camera and a small collection of lenses. This soon progressed to my own 35mm SLR then medium format camera. Tuition again came from my father and this time a local photography group. This was a time when Monochrome (Black and White) processing was readily available to enthusiasts, with many, myself included, having a home darkroom (usually a bathroom!). Colour processing was left to the more passionate or the processing labs. By the late 1990's I had achieved a few City & Guilds qualifications at Newcastle College which led to a Licentiate with the Royal Photographic Society (now lapsed!). Then once again the interest faded. I returned to photography some years later with a 4mp digital camera, this time the interest has remained and I now own a DSLR with a few lenses and a few more pixels and my darkroom is a much more convenient digital one.
Though I get great satisfaction from taking pictures I don’t regard myself as a photographer, it is not an addiction, and I don't 'have' to take photographs. I am an enthusiastic amateur taking photographs for a hobby simply because I enjoy it.
So, in a couple of paragraphs that's about it. As circumstances have changed I'm finding myself with a bit more time on my hands, so maybe now is the time for me to get a bit more serious about taking photographs. (or at least keep my website up to date!)
I'm not going to list my equipment other than to say I use a DSLR with a variety of lenses, filters and accessories suited to my interests.
Michael Rose
Just a bloke with a camera