My eyesight is poor now and I still have to wait for some time before I can have the operations. For this reason I have restricted comments to only people I follow and I won't be following anyone new until after the operations. If all goes well I will lift the restrictions but his might well be more than a year.

Retired biochemist and for the last 12 years a photo editor (when I got to the mid-life crisis and wanted to get back into photography). Living near Bridgend, South Wales, UK

As you may have guessed I like black and white photos - buildings, portraits, transport (trains and motorcycles in particular) and street photography. I still have a darkroom and process my own film and prints, though the cost of the chemistry limits the number I can process.

I also like landscapes and nature photos (in colour of course - flowers and nature are not so good in b&w).

I greatly admire people who can photograph birds and are in awe of your images. I’m member of my local nature reserve and I can wait in the hides for hours without seeing a bird - until I put the camera away! (Happens every time).

I follow people because I like their photography. I don’t follow huge numbers like some do, and that allows me to spend more time admiring the photos of the people I follow. I look at explore most days and fave a few photos in order to find the photographer again.

I block the parasites that use a program to leave the same comment on all the explore photos (and would encourage others to do the same) and anyone whose photos are distasteful, of very poor quality or follow tens of thousands in order to become popular.

Now that I have retired I’m going to try my hand at portrait photography. I live just 5 doors away from a studio and the photographer there has offered the use of it. All I need to do now is find some models. One day I might surprise everyone with a portrait photo.