Let me start off by saying that I am relatively new to serious photography (read more below about this). I love taking photos and have always been been that member of the family with the camera everyone wants to avoid but can’t.

My Dad gave me my first camera just before a Durban holiday. It was a Kodak Instamatic that took a 110mm size film. I spent the 7 hour road trip from Joburg snapping away at everything I saw from the car window. I was 13 at the time. I still have these photos tucked away somewhere in a box, all faded as film is wont to fade.

I migrated to more expensive point and clicks, film and then digital. My favourite film camera was  a 35mm Olympus that took such beautiful photos. It eventually got stolen. A couple of years ago I bought a “serious” camera – a DSLR. It’s not fancy, an entry-level model because I want to outgrow it instead of getting a top of the range model that I will not use or enjoy. It’s a Canon 1100 EOS and it’s just perfect for me right now.

Initially I started off my feeling my way around, and any good photos were more due to the awesome camera rather than the photographer. I’m not much of a manual-reader or photographic-course-attender.

Last year I decided to really learn photography and I have a great teacher in Che, my husband, who used to develop his own photos. Teaching is purely experiential, just how I like it.

He often springs questions and quizzes on me when I’m least expecting it – he reminds me of Cato, Inspector Clouseau’s manservant who was ordered to attack Clouseau at any time to keep him alert. Che does a good Cato impersonation although our house is still intact, thankfully.

I am learning a lot and I am far from the photographer I want to be. Often I want to snap away and I realise with dismay that I don’t know how to tackle the shot in terms of composition or the best angle to shoot a scene.

Landscapes still stump me. I still have a lot to learn about taking photos that draw people in – right now they are still one-dimensional.

In summary, I will be (and have been) subjecting you to many photos that are not great. Hopefully there will be a few that will be (are) great. The featured photo is one of my favourites. I entered it in one of the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenges. I admit that I did some post-processing. But I think that most photographers do this, don’t they?

Entered in NaBloPoMo for this month’s theme of “Photo”. Click on the link to see more entries.