My first camera was a Coronet Cub passed on to me by my father when I was about 12. He had no further use for it, having acquired a Voigtländer Brillant by barter from a German civilian whilst on occupation duty in Berlin at the end of the War. It cost him 20 cigarettes. The Coronet was without controls of any kind, having an "all-distance f10 lens" and a single unknown shutter speed. Accordingly, those of my photographs taken before December 1973 are not always of tip-top quality. Nevertheless, some of my favourite shots were taken with this camera. It used 828 film, which was the same size as 35mm, but a roll film with backing paper and no sprocket holes. The Coronet was succeeded by a Praktica LTL. This represented a giant leap-forward, but was exasperatingly prone to camera-shake. Mainly for this reason I replaced it in 1979 with a Chinon CM3.

I continued to use the CM3 until I bought my first digital in 2002. Almost from the word go I was aware of something lacking in digital. Even so, I persevered with it for eight years, during which time I owned five digital cameras. Remember that in the previous 30 years I'd only ever bought two film cameras; I'd been suckered aboard the digital upgrade merry-go-round. Eventually I thought it might be interesting to buy an adapter that would allow me to fit my old M42 screw-thread lenses to the Olympus DSLR I was then using. This was the beginning of my "return to film". The decisive moment came when I thought ...just for fun... I'd put a film through the CM3 for the first time in eight years. I remember raising the camera to my eye: after the miserable little image in the viewfinder of my 4/3rds Olympus, it was like looking at a cinema screen. My renunciation of digital was a process of many stages, but I finally returned, with relief, to 100% film in 2010, and to doing my own processing for the first time in 2011. It's been, and remains, great fun. I make no claim for my talents as a photographer: I am a mere amateur hobbyist. Occasionally, on the scattergun principle, I produce a photograph that pleases me, although I've noticed that what pleases me doesn't necessarily please others ...and vice-versa, of course. I have always been sceptical of the claim that Photography is an Art. It is possible that this scepticism derives from a mean-spirited envy of those who are more skilful at it than I am.