My History of Photography

My History of Photography

Graffiti - The Hague                  Sarajevo - 1994                  Castle - Not far from home              Galway

When I was a child I played with a Brownie Cresta camera.  It was my elder brother’s and I stole it a few times, until he got so fed up with that, he leant it to me.

Taking photographs became something that I did. Every holiday for the two weeks that we had away, I was taking the odd snapshot here and there.  I copied my brother but experimented a little even then.

I joined the Royal Air Force when I was fifteen, and soon after entering men’s service I was posted to Cyprus, and discovered the delights of Single Lense Reflex Cameras, by buying myself a Yashica.  Of course, it was duty free – and for those who are not as old as I am, it relied on film.

I became good at it. I moved to Canon and took photographs all over the world.

It was when I was in Cyprus I discovered Scuba, and became addicted.  So I moved into underwater photography.  It proved far too expensive but I stuck with it until I had been out of the RAF for some years and arrived in Bermuda. I took hundreds of photographs under the ocean, on the reefs. I took them of the forty odd wrecks that surround the island that have hit the reef at some point in history. I also took photos of reef life and fellow divers.  But in the end it became too much. Every week (or so it seemed) the camera (a Nikon diving camera) would be flooded. I had taken some great photos but the time had come quite naturally, to give up underwater photography. I headed for home, Spain and then the UK and hung up my dive camera.

But that did not stop me and I entered another phase of life.  Taking real (land-based) photographs all over the World.  It is a hobby that I can share with my wife, who enjoys the finishing of the prints by emphasis of light and darkness, as well as the whole process, achieving some really great angles that I would not dream of.  The best of the prints are on the wall at home.

I am now using a Panasonic Lumix, and a mobile ‘phone.  Also I’ve still got the Canon although it is newer and doesn't need a film. I must admit I have not experimented enough with the Lumix to get fully happy with the “gizmoes”.  I play with it on “Auto” and hope for the best.  But it is the best of the bunch that is out there at the moment and it is my great hope to keep me busy in my retirement.

  Dali Museum - Fuegirola                           Sei Lanka - 1978                                      Powerscourt Ireland