I'm a hobbyist photographer.

My gear:

I got my first camera when I was a teenager. I was sponsored by my parents to buy it from someone who was a math teacher (not mine). It looked like a vintage camera, with a bellows, extending the lens. The teacher was somewhat reluctant to part with it and told my not to judge it by its appearance. And he told me some basic facts about the viewfinder, about getting a sharp image, and tried to show me how to see and use a 'miraculous" yellow light within the frame of the image you could possibly get after the photo is taken. It was indeed a good camera. Shortcomings: you couldn't use a flash attached to it and you could only use 7 or 8 frame films (60 mm x 90 mm).

Then, in my search for a flash device to be attached or integrated to the camera, I bought a camera of a Russian brand.

In fact, I had a pretty lousy camera (automatic focus, the only advantage : using 35 mm films) and my mother came back from a trip to Moscow with two huge flashes. So I sold the flashes to a photography teacher (from the Community House) who told me to think twice before selling them, and who did not want to have 'pangs of conscience' for not having cautioned me about how valuable they were (e.g. to take photos of groups of kids performing on a scene at the end of their school year) and I bought a decent camera of a Russian brand (Leica, or Zennith, I do no longer remember its name) from a fellow student attending the amateur photography classes.

When I relocated, one day my mother wanted to bring my camera to me in my new town of residence, but someone stole it from her, together with a purse of oranges, while she was waiting in a line to get a train ticket.

Then I forgot about photography, not intentionally so.

Now it seems to be a hobby again. I'm using mobile phones. I don't feel like their owner. They seem to own me. But perhaps I haven't taken the time to read how to use them properly to take acceptable photos.