I have worked as a researcher and, during the past - what seems - a good few years, as a lecturer in Adult Education with experience of delivering courses/workshops in creative writing, calligraphy, IT and basic digital photography.

In short, I am a creative-minded person with fingers in a variety of artistic pies: a published author, producer of electronic music and, of course, photography!

My interest in photography was reignited as an undergraduate in the late 1990s when I was introduced to Photoshop, image manipulation and graphic design. My very first experience of using a 35 mm film SLR was my father's solid metal Minolta but, it was an experience hardly worth writing home about. I stuck rigidly to his technical advice for achieving a good exposure, too afraid to twiddle with the settings he suggested and thus, screw up his prized possession.

Anyway, my first experience of digital (as in a dedicated camera) was a Minolta bridge camera 3.1 megapixel which took some pretty good pics. It wasn't long before I discovered that the camera had limitations as I became more bold at working in semi-auto mode. The next camera episode was one which, to this day, causes me to reflect with a sigh. After Konica Minolta announced it was bowing out of the camera race, I wanted to go for a D-SLR. As I had been used to the Minolta, I naturally wanted to go for that system and, I saw a great deal online on the Minolta Dynax 7D but, by the time I decided to jump, it was too late and I couldn't get one for love nor money! That's when I settled for the Konica Minolta 5D. Well, I have to say, in comparison to a friend's Canon 350D, the Dynax 5D was a reliable performer. The camera never let me down and I still use it sometimes (because I can't bear to part with things). I now use a full-frame D-SLR for my needs.

I recently acquired a very cheap old Pentax film SLR with a bundle of lenses. There is just something about black and white photography.

UPDATE: That's it! I am hooked. There is just something about working with film!!!!! Oh, and my collection of vintage film cameras keeps growing. :-)