I've been a keen amateur since I was 16 years old (1981) when I bought my first 35mm manual Minolta SRT101 for about £100. Since then I acquired Minolta XD7, X500, X700 film cameras & lens from 17mm upto 500mm mirror.

 

In 2001, I went digital with basic compacts & later had several Fujifilm Finefix bridge cameras including S5600, S6500fd, S9600 & S200EXR which offered very good performance, & value for money.

 

Then in 2011, I decided to upgrade from bridge to DSLR, starting out with Minolta Dynax 7D & 5D cameras , which could re-use most of my existing Minolta lenses with adaptors. Then I got a Sony A300 with Sony 18-55mm & 55-200mm kit lenses, followed by a few older lenses: Minolta AF 28-105mm, Minolta AF 100-300mm & Minolta MD 100 mm macro F/4.

 

2012 saw the addition of a Sigma 400mm F5.6 Telephoto & Tamron 10-24mm Wide angle lens, & one of my favourites, the Tamron 18-250mm lens. The desire to have slightly better body lead me to getting a Sony A700 which is a nice older pro. spec. camera, with very rugged build quality. I was lucky to also find an original Minolta right angle viewfinder magnifier for specialist shots.

 

2013 was a bit quite but added the battery grip for the A700.

 

2014 was better with 4 great additions: Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8, Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8, Minolta 100 mm f/2.8 AF Macro & last but not least Minolta AF 500mm mirror lens. With all those lens I needed another body, so got another Sony A700 & battery grip.

 

More recently in 2015 got a Samyang 8mm f/3.5 manual focus fish-eye which is amazing & a Sony A77 (upgraded version of the A700) as my main camera.

 

Now have equipment split over 3 different camera bags to suit the occasion:

 

Bag 1 - Sony A77 +Tamron 18-250mm, Tamron 10-24mm, Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8, Minolta 100 mm f/2.8 AF Macro, Samyang 8mm f/3.5.

 

Bag 2 - Sony A700 + Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8, & Kenko 1.4x teleconverter.

 

Bag 3 - Sony A700 + Minolta AF 500mm, & Kenko 1.4x & 2x teleconverters.

 

Artistically, I like to photograph anything that has aesthetic appeal - be it natural or man made. I like the beauty & mathematics of all things, & look for geometrical shape, form, pattern, texture or colour in my compositions, whether it's capturing landscapes, architecture, or abstract. I have an interest in astronomy & watching the skies for anything special.

 

I'm currently going through my back catalogue, & scanning in all my old negatives so I can rediscover & rejuvenate some past events, & hopefully share some of the better pictures with others.

 

Thanks for reading.