And so I began

I’ve had an interest in photography for quite a few years now, I started to give it a go when I was about 14 but didn’t get very ‘serious’ about it until I was 16. I started off just using my camera phone, taking photographs of objects that people would normally ignore, I’d experiment with different things I found outside or in peoples houses and I used to think I was amazing, but of course, I wasn’t, no one was when they first started.

For my 16th birthday, I gathered enough money to by myself a camera, nothing too expensive but it did the job. I had finally got my first proper camera and my first real obsession. I loved holding my camera, I would take it everywhere and because of it being my most prized possession, I was so protective of it to the point where I’d only let certain people touch it.

I became involved with unsigned bands and I would take photographs for them at concerts and on some photo shoots. I was never paid, I didn’t really want to be, I just wanted the experience and I enjoyed tagging a long with people who had similar interests. It was always fun for me and I didn’t want to stop, so I started taking my camera to concerts so I could get a few snaps of well known bands and hopefully get some really good ones but I didn’t know that it would be a disaster. After a couple of hours at the barriers, the crowd were starting to get a bit rough, especially when well known songs came on. I ended up getting crushed and passing out, but not only did I nearly break my legs being pulled out the crowd, my camera was destroyed. I was so upset about it and I thought I had lost everything I had taken as well as my camera, but luckily, there was still enough life in it for me to retrieve my photographs and they turned out pretty good.

Luckily for me, I had insured my camera so I was able to get a new one exactly the same so I was happy. I went back to doing band photography but I avoided using my camera if there was a chance of it breaking again. After a while, I decided to move on from band photography and widen my skills by finding other things to capture. I usually was drawn to animals, but I would also take photographs for charity events and I’d occasionally take a few of people and the outdoors. The more and more I used my camera to its full potential, the more it became worn and old. About 4 months after its insurance ran out, my camera decided it had had enough and packed in, the only way it works now is if it has sellotape in certain places.

I currently use my boyfriends camera, which at this rate, he is never getting it back because it is such an awesome camera, but up until yesterday, I didn’t really know how to use it properly.

Yesterday, Andy Jacques from SSC Learning and professional photographer, Martin Hodgkiss held a photography day where we learnt a lot of things that we might need to know for when we start working. We learnt how to use different settings and lighting to make a plain object look amazing. I’ll be honest, I found it pretty difficult because I was out of my comfort zone, but as the day went on, I found it to get a bit easier and I went into perfectionist mode and generally snap happy, although, I wasn’t very happy when my card ran out of memory. I ended up being so hyped up about what I’d been doing, that I went home and carried on. I found out some equipment that I was given not long ago which had been tossed aside because I thought I’d never use it, but thankfully, I kept it and it served me well.

Fancy seeing you here.

Hello everyone and welcome to my photography blog. On here you will find photographs that I have taken all by myself!

This blog was actually created in order to try and win a competition that SSC Learning‘s Andy Jacques set up after he did an awesome photography day with Martin Hodgkiss. The prize is a camera, so I’m definitely feeling the pressure to get snap happy for a chance to get my hands on the grand prize, especially as my pride and joy is sat in a cupboard completely battered, broken, bruised and ready to be laid to rest so it can go to the big camera heaven in the sky. We had a good run, so it is time to move on.. *sniff*

Anyway, moving on from that sad, sad story, I really hope you enjoy this blog and find my photographs pleasing to the eye. Hopefully, if all goes well, I shall carry on running this blog with new and old photographs that I have taken.

Have a good time browsing;

Plain Jaine.