I have been taking photographs since a lad in short pants. First camera was a Kodak 620 folding camera. I bought film and chemicals from our local chemist and mixed my own chemicals for Black and White processing. (Colour film had yet to be invented) This was paid for from my paper-round wage.

First 35mm camera, an Ilford Sportsman, purchased by girlfriend Linda, for my 19th birthday. For my 79th birthday she gave me a few pennies towards the Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. Linda still supports my hobby and has suffered as I started processing my first colour, negative and positive films then Cibachrome. I have been involved with computers since 1960 so moving to digital was quite simple - but still learning. First SLR, a Canonflex R, (purchased new late 1960) first DSLR a Canon D30 and last DSLR a Canon EOS 7D MkII.

I have covered a couple of family weddings, next time they can take their own, but main interest is wildlife, especially birdlife.

Plans change and my adventures in MFT have finished. I started with a Canon R SLR and now have a Canon 7D MkII DSLR and that is where I will stick. It all fits comfortably into my red Lowpro Tahoe BP150 backpack with EFS 18-135mm USM and EF 100-400mm L II with 1.4 III extender plus recently Sigma Macro 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM and Canon Speedlite 470EX-AI. Computers - Apple since Dec 2009, currently an iMac 27" i5 5K 16GB and a MacBook Pro i7 15" 16GB and 500GB SDD (2017) both now running Mojave, Windows 10 Pro and Windows XP Pro SP3 on both. Reason for XP is simple. I am scanning in my many images and for some I need my Nikon Coolscan ED V 35mm scanner. I mainly use DXO Photo Lab 2 for processing. I am currently (June/July 2019) enjoying a Sony DCS RX10M camera. I find quality to be excellent and now no longer a lad in short pants my body tells me that the Canon kit is a bit heavy. The day will come when the 7D MkII etc etc departs - but not quite yet :-)

My other, main, interest is Amateur Radio. I hold a full licence, am a member of the RSGB and am QSL Bureau Manager and Vice-President of the Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society.