Inspired by Admiral (at OCAU) and Mole2k (at RSC), I have tried my best to put together a bit of a dSLR journey, as done my norbs.

I got my very 1st dSLR camera in November 2005. It was a pre-loved Canon 300D. Add to that a couple of kit lenses and I was away. The very 1st photo I took with this camera is below.

All photos can be viewed in a larger size by clicking on them.

Shot using the Macro mode on the 300D, I was happy that it was a clear photo. I spent a good couple of hours out in the backyard snapping shots of all manner of things. Not knowing a damned thing about aperture or exposure, it was all done, Im ashamed to say, in Auto mode. At this point, I didn’t even realise the exposure meter in the view finder was just that. Over the next few weeks, I dabbled with manual mode, only to take a hell of alot of over and under exposed photos. Hmm, this was starting to feel like I had made a bad choice. I knew bugger all about photography and it showed in my photos. I dont know how many times I went for a walk and took a stack of photos only to get home and find that most of them were rubbish. The read LCD screen on the 300D was showing them as being ok, but on the big screen, they were a mess. I had a lot to learn.

In December, Andree and I went away for christmas to her brothers place at Wagga Wagga and then to Albury and Culburrra Beach. Lots and lots of portraits, nothing too flash, but I got a few pleasing photos and people liked what they saw. Whilst in Albury, we went out on Andree’s brothers speed boat for some wake boarding. Here is a challenge. Set the 300D to Tv (time priority) and away we went.

Seymour cuts a swathe.

And getting some air.

Wow, hey, look out, Im a sports photographer. Obviously, they aren’t all that good, but they were a damned side better than I expected. I was still struggling with the whole photography thing. I had read about exposure, aperture and shutter speed, but it hadn’t really sunk in. By the time the trip was over, I had a load of photos, but nothing that I really couldn’t have done with the old IXUS point and shoot.

Late in January, we went down to my mums place in Culburra Beach. I was a bit nervous about using my dSLR on the beach. Sand and salt water aren’t to kind to cameras apparently. Again, lots of experimenting, and again, lots of dud photos. But I did jag this one.

My foot.

It is still one of the most popular of my 1400 odd photos on Flickr. Nice and sharp and the colours aren’t to bad either. February and March were lean months, the photography bug really hadn’t bitten at this stage and I was fighting a bit of a nasty settlement case in court.

April, and the Royal Easter Show rolls around. Well, this has to be a good opportunity for a budding photographer. My girlfriend was overseas and I had heaps of time, so off I went. Movement, colour and lights. Wow! Snap, snap ……….snap. I had learned a little bit more by this stage, so I could almost figure out how to minimize depth of field.

Well I thought I had.

As you can see, I hadn’t quite got the affect I wanted. That lovely blurry look as the clowns moved further away from the lense. What the hell I was I doing wrong. All would be revealed a few weeks later. I did manage another photo that was, and still is one of my faves.

This pup looked up just as I had finished focussing.

The next real photo opportunity I got was at Mount panorama, Bathurst. The Bathurst Festival of Speed was on. A couple of hours drive out west to see a stack of cars zinging around Bathurst. As it turned out, it was a crap day. Hardly any racing on and lots of waiting. Again, alot of photos taken and quite a few keepers.

The Torana goes over the mountain.
It was here that I realised there is a whole lot more to motorsport photography than just pointing and clicking the button. Panning became something I wanted to be better at. The changing light made things difficult, and it was after the day at Bathurst that I decided that I have to learn more about photography if I wanted to take a good photo.

May came and it really was the month the penny dropped. It was prompted by 2 things in particular. The 1st one was when I finally got my head around how aperture affected depth of field. I can even remember the moment it happened.

Ahaaaaa……
I remember taking this photo and thinking.. “if this doesn’t work, I’ll give it away”. When I looked into the LCD after the shot I felt a rush. It had worked. So now, I realised what happened when I used a large aperture. And because of the bizzare way we talk about aperture, I had been messing it up every time. Small f stop, large aperture, small depth of field was how I remembered it from then on.

The second thing that happened was a meet up with 3 guys from the OCAU photography forums. All three had alot more experience than I did, so it was terrific for me to go out with them and learn a few things. Admiral, or Kris Dick to use his real name was more than generous with his time and patience. Amongst a few fantastic tips, he demystified the whole apeture mystery by saying something like, “Apeture just means hole!” It was like someone had turned a light on in my brain. Sure, it sounds simple, and I must sound like a tool for letting something so simple befuddle me, but I can’t explain the differance it made to my confidence.

Just one shot from that night.
June saw me out and about, taking photos of everything and anything. It was the 1st time I had tried anything approaching arty type shots. Im not a huge fan of the pretentious photo’s that you see hanging in gallerys around the place. But I thought I may as well try and see how it works.

Not exactly stunning, but it was high art for this little black duck.
The photography bug had bitten. And how. I was starting to understand alot more about it, purely by doing it over and over. But it did get me out there, and even, up early in the morning.

Sunrise, the 1st of many.
July was a big month. Thanks to the conclusion of a long running property settlement, I splurged and bought myself some new kit.

mmmmmm, good!
Yep, a brand new Canon 30D. Wow, what a differance. It felt solid. Its was heavy. It shot 5 frames per second. 8 megapixels. A groovy dial doodad on the back. It really was too good a piece of gear for this rank amatuer, but hey, you only get divorced once (I hope). With this baby in my grubby mitt, it was off on a roadtrip. Time to give this baby a work out. Canberra 1st stop.

An experiment with light painting.
The to Wagga Wagga, Wodonga, Castlemaine, Melbourne, Lakes Entrance, Eden, Naroooma and back home. What a blast. Plenty of early morning get ups and late nights. Lots of walking and talking to locals. I had a ball.

One of my faves from the trip.
August 2006 saw me out all over the place. Night time in the city. Down to the beach. Batemans Bay with work. All the time with the camera. It was beginning to be my main hobby. More and more, photos turned out the way I had hoped they would. I was actually getting the hang of it. I bought a macro lense and found out how much fun it is to photograph tiny things.

A little hoverfly.
September and back to Eastern Creek for some more car racing photos. This time I was alot more confident, and guess what? I stuffed most of the photos up. 🙂 I was trying to pan at 1/60th of a second. Nup, not good enough for that yet.

Cortina goodness.
Heaps of outings and lots more photos. Lots more learning as well. Photography is like getting older. The more you learn, the more you realise you dont know.

October was a busy month. 21 days I went out taking photos. Either after work, during work or weekends. Nights, early mornings and just arsing around at home. Again, another busy month of learning. It was the month I went to Lilyfield train yards and did some urban type shots. It was also the night I thought I was going to be killed by a train.

A long exposure.
November was a massive month. Sculptures by the sea was on along the coast. What a great opportunity for some photos. But the big one was my wedding and honeymoon. The wedding was a great day.

Bertie, Gerg and Macca try and calm my nerves.
The honeymoon in Vietnam was a photographers heaven. Click that link for more photos from Vietnam, but here is one of my faves.

See, I can pan.
After a month like that, and purchasing a house in December, it was time for a bit of a rest. Apart from the chrissy rush, not much was done in December.
January 2007 saw macros come back. Portraits and crash zooming. Lots of experimenting to be done and lots to learn.
Which brings us to February. Now. Present. No more rambling. I still have a long way to go, but judging by the reception this photo has got, I am getting better.

The Opera House.
Thanks for all those people I have hassled with stupid questions and have given their time to help me understand this terrific hobby that is photography.