I received my first camera when I was 10 years old, it was a Kodak Instamatic and used those disposable cube flashes that gave a rather odd burning smell. This may make me sound like I'm 100 years old, I'm not honestly.

I tried a variety of cameras avilable at the time, including the disc film cameras. I'm not quite sure how long they lasted but the quality was dire! I had a dabble with film SLRs, obviously not digital as we were a long way from the digital age.

Time passed and while I still liked taking photographs I never saw it as my hobby, just taking snaps on holiday and at Christmas.

Then the digital age arrived and I bought a 'digi cam' as they were known in those heady early days. It started to ignite my passion as I liked seeing instant results.

For my 40th birthday (see I'm not really 100 years old) my husband bought me my first DSLR and as they say 'the rest is history'. My passion has grown, I've progressed from a Nikon D40x to a D300s and I'm loving it.