The Journey Starts

I've had an interest in photography for a while, but have only really starting exploring it in the last 6 months. I've always taken many happy snaps, family shots, etc, and there have been occasional nice photos that I've printed out and framed, but only recently have I been taking things more seriously. I have a Pro flickr account, mainly as an offsite backup of my photo library - I reckon it's pretty good insurance for $25 a year. Imagine loosing all your family shots for the last 10 years (or longer!).

So - I'm making photography my new hobby (or passion...). Over the xmas break (end of 2007 - start of 2008), we did a family holiday on a houseboat on the Murray River, and then toured the Limestone Coast of South Australia and the Great Ocean Road of Victoria. Asside from having a great holiday, I started concentrating on my photographic technique and creativity.

For xmas I recieved the excellent "How to Photograph Australia" book by Steve Parish. I'd been eyeing it off for a while at the bookstore, so was the best present by far this year. I still haven't completed it, but it's jam packed with really great information and stunning shots. Highly recommended.

Over this holiday there were plenty of great photographic opportunities, and I tried to make the most of it. I have a Canon S3 camera, which is a very compact 6MP point-and-shoot with a 12x zoom. It gives a range of something like 35-430mm! It's really quite a good little camera, and was a vast improvement over my Nikon Coolpix 995 (mainly in the area of responsiveness and zoom). There are a few problems with the Canon S3 though, like quite noticible chromatic aborations in high contrast scenes, general softness, the colour is not quite punchy enough for my liking, and the dynamic range could be better. Also, I wish it reacted faster and the batteries lasted longer! I remember it being such an awesome upgrade from the Nikon, but now I just want MORE :) That doesn't mean the photos turn out crap though, but I generally have to tweak them before I'm totally happy.

As of a couple of weeks ago I've decided to take the hobby a few steps forwards. First step is to do a photography course, second step is to get a DSLR, and third step is to try to make a bit of money on the side...

There are plenty of photographic courses available and they range from three year degrees at a recognised educational institution to crappy looking websites with tips and tricks. I wanted to do an internet based course from home that had some meat in it and gave me some kind of diploma at the end. I've got no idea if the piece of paper will help me later on, but at least it's something to show for my efforts. Yesterday I signed up to the online course from The Photography Institute - after a quick glance at the course materials it looks good. The first two modules are quite indepth theory which I know I have to fully comprehend to get anywhere in this industry. It's a 6 month course but I'm hoping to finish it much quicker - I have so much enthusiasm and motivation at the moment!

Second step is a DSLR. Oh boy, the choices. I've been researching for weeks. Do I get an entry level or go for a mid-range? Price is quite a factor, but I'm willing to spend a few thousand dollars to get started. The choice came down to Canon or Nikon. And then to the Canon 40D or the Nikon D300. The Canon is cheaper and much more lenses seem to be available, but I decided to go the Nikon with the excellent 18-200 AF-S VR lens. I'm picking the camera up tomorrow from Sydney, along with a spare battery, SB-600 speedlight, Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB CF card, Hoya Super HMC Pro 1 UV to protect the lens (apparently lets through 99.5% of light), and a Super Pro 1 Circular Polariser. Hopefully that's enough to get a good start! Oh, and just bought a clone of the MC-36 corded remote from eBay. I've also keeping an eye on eBay for other lenses - I'd like a longer zoom, a prime 50mm, and a wide angle zoom that starts at around 12mm. These other lenses aren't too important at the moment, but sometimes you get an eBay bargain.

I'm going to commit to posting once a week to this blog. But I know I'm going to miss the odd week. This is the start of a long journey, but I'm really excited about it and determined to get there.