I've been photographing since I was in my early 20's, when I bought my first Minolta (XG-1). That was my first "real" camera. I had been taught the basics of photography and developping at the age of 9, but it took me until then to really get things going.

I started my own darkroom when I was 25, learned how to print my own prints from a good friend and even did a course in documentary photography, which my boss at the time saw as a threat to his company, so he stopped me from taking my finals. (Dumdest move I ever did, letting him get away with that..) Since then photography has become a real passion to me. I let it simmer for a few years due to personal problems, but really picked it back up when I met my ex-wife. She was very supportive, eventhough the many hours I had spent in the darkroom had already cost me a relationship.

Since then I had grown from a Minolta XG-M, X-700 with a whole range of lenses to a Minolta 9000 AF. I took a first step into digital photography with a HP 945, which was a good camera to get to know the medium. But the total control I had over my camera like I had with my Minolta's was something I really missed. I was very happy when I was finally able to get my own Sony Alpha-100, which is my current tool. I have my old Minolta lenses that are still in frequent use (28mm/f2.8, 50mm/1.7), I use the kitlense that came with the Alpha and I bought a Tamron 70-300 lens. I also use a Sony HF36 flash unit, which I bought for it's wireless flash-capabilities.

My photographs are usually not planned, I take the world as it is presented to me. Having been nearly blind because of cataract will make you see the world in a new light. Trust me, it will! Do we realise how beautiful the world is? Even the most plain things can be beautiful if you just look for the onw viewpoint from which it looks the most pleasing.

One thing I don't do anymore, is "Photoshop" anything in my pics. I do add a watermark to them, using an Android App and occasionally use the Android Photoeditor to up the lighting of my pictures. Other than that, I don't want to spend the time behind the computer to work magic on my pictures. I know how to, but I want to make the images in camera, relaying the feeling I have at that time to the viewer. My camera is almost permanently set to BW, so I don't get any colourimages.

Update:

More recently, I have been doing a lot of concert-photography. The venue I hang out at, is a small one, holds a max of 50 people, has room for a full band on stage, all the equipment is available etc. As I am also a bass-player and I play in two bands these days, I am also on that stage a lot. There are no pictures of me on stage yet... During the events that are organised there or even during the jams, I try to capture the mood of the moment, try to get some good shots in, capture the essence of the music or the soul of the people I photograph. I have found that I am very bad when I have to produce a particular image, I need to do it al in freedom and without the constraints of an "order".. I will be updating my photostream with some of the shots I took at the venue. Stay tuned!