The first photograph I took was of my mum and dad with my mum's folding camera. I was about 8 and they didn't think I was capable as the view from the viewfinder was upside down and back to front if I remember rightly, and you held it at waist height. It did turn out okay though. I then progressed through the family's new Kodak Brownie 44A and Instamatic.

The first camera that was totally mine was a Halina Paulette Electric which I don't think was particularly good but did teach me about aperture and shutter speed. I then progressed to an Olympus 35RC Rangefinder, which I still have, and then my first SLR, the Olympus OM-2N which I hung on to even as digital was coming in.

My first digital cameras were the Fuji Finepix 6900 and Canon Ixus 55, a tiny camera which I still have. However, I really wanted a DSLR and became a Nikon girl as the only affordable Canon was in silver which I didn't want so I waited for the black Nikon D70. I then progressed through the Nikon D200 and D7200 with various lenses.

In 2014 I was looking for something smaller to take on holiday and came across the Olympus OM-D E-M10 with the 14-42mm IIR lens which I fell in love with as it looked like my OM-2N. I then couldn't resist the OM-D E-M5III. So what do I take on holiday these days - a beautiful, white Olympus PEN E-PL10 with the 14-42mm EZ Lens which I bought for half price as the E-PL10 was being discontinued.

If you've made it to the end of that I'd like to mention what the tutor of a B&W film photography course I took in around 2000 told us. He said you should never take a shot unless you go 'WOW' as you look through the viewfinder - we are talking film here! This has stuck with me though if that's the case I would never have taken any photographs! I do, however, have two photographs in my stream where I did actually let out audible 'WOWS' as I came across the scenes I was about to take. One is Bryce Canyon, Utah, and the other is the Vivian Diving Centre near the Llanberis Slate Mine in Wales.