It's about time I updated this! I'll also include my previous camera history.

I am by no means a professional photographer, but I enjoy taking photos of anything and everything. I have a strange interest in streetlighting, which can clearly be seen if you look at my phots for more than a few minutes.

I live in Hartlepool, England. Not the most picturesque of towns, though I do my best with what I've got.

CAMERA HISTORY

I have been interested in taking photos for as long as I can remember. I have fond memories of being able to take photos using my dad's camera as a kid. Unfortunately, I didn't pursue it as a hobby, due to the cost of film, cameras, development, etc.

In 1999, I received my first "real" film camera (a Kodak Advantix), and I took a lot of photos with this. Again, due to the cost of film and development, this got under-used, and eventually found its way to the back of a drawer.

In 2001, I bought my first digital camera from a friend. It was a Fujifilm DX-8, with a maximum resolution of 640x480, and it cost me £50. I was obsessed with it.

It came with a 2Mb SmartMedia card, and with each photo taking roughly 80K, it wasn't long until it filled up.

I remember downloading the photos from the camera was an absolute pain None of this USB stuff, oh no. This thing used a 9-pin serial cable. It would disconnect every few minutes.

Compared to today's cameras, the quality is truly shocking, especially when printing out the images

In January 2002, I benefited from the whole Kodak £100 camera fiasco, which meant I picked up a 3.1Mp camera for £100. The camera was very basic... no zoom, and no manual settings (except for a macro mode).This was used right up until 2006.

The next camera came in the form of the Acer CI-6330, weighing in at 6.1Mp. I bought this online from some website, at a dirt cheap price, expecting nothing at all. Indeed, my first attempts at photographs after receiving the camera were terrible. It wasn't until I sat down and played with the settings that I was able to get some good out of it.

In September 2008, my Acer was demoted from the position of being my main camera. In its place is a Canon EOS 450D

In May 2010, the Acer camera was finally laid to rest for good after four years of loyal service, following the purchase of a Canon Powershot A480

You may also see low-quality images taken on my mobile phones (or cellphones for those across the pond). I used to have a Sony Ericsson K800i, however, September 21st 2010 saw the old cameraphone laid to rest, to be replaced with a HTC Desire.

MY PHOTOS

I'll take photos of anything and everything. I use flickr more of an online backup site, which means I'll upload everything I take, whether it's good or not. (though If it's indescribably bad, I'll mark it as private).

My favourite things to photograph are streetlights, sunsets and sunrises, not necessarily all at the same time.

Here's a 'flickrstats' generated view of my flickr stats between April 2008 and their eventual demise in April 2010.

Here's a more realtime view of the stats...

See mercuryvapour's Flickr stats on Statsr.net