Botanist,Author,Journalist,Photographer

I started out in photography at the age of 10, half a century ago, with a Kodak Brownie 127 and a homemade enlarger that my dad built using lenses from an old gun sight and a dried milk tin - and became totally captivated with the magic of pictures appearing in the developer in the darkroom. After that I went through a whole series of cameras Russian Zenith SLRs, various Prakticas, two Pentax LX (still my all-time favourite film camera) and then a Nikon F5 and a Bronica GS2....and then a Nikon D70. Digital photography is without doubt one of the most pleasurable and enabling technological innovations in my lifetime. It's revitalised my interest in photography, not least because there is so much potential and so much to learn, and also because the cameras are so portable and versatile. My current favourite cameras of all time is a Pentax W20 pocket camera - focuses down to 1cm. so great for close-ups, waterproof and fine for images on the web, even though it's now outdated technology: truly a take everywhere camera and, once totally familiar with its strengths and limitations, amazingly versatile. I even often use it to take photos down microscopes (internal focussing in this model makes this possible) . I've become so attached to it that I bought a more recent but similar model as a back-up in case of disasters, which has more bells and whistles but, inevitably, inferior battery life. Now getting to grips with a Panasonic G2 which continually surprises and delights.