I have an on/off love affair with my photography. Over the years I've worked hard to improve my skills from my humble offerings with a standard point and click camera to my present day DSLR. Sometimes I've wanted to take pictures and other times not. I have grand ideas but struggle to get some of them done due to circumstance, normally me being single and having nobody to participate in the idea for me means I tend to put them to one side and never revisit them. My favourite things to photograph over the years have been wildlife (predominantly dragonflies and damselflies) or people (general portrait type pics through to more risqué adult pics). The subject I find hardest to photograph is myself which will seem strange to anyone reading my blog.
I share them where I feel most appropriate. The wildlife and general normal pics end up on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or Fetlife and Purpleport (when I remember) and occasionally my blog. The more adult pics have invariably ended up on Twitter, Flickr and here on the blog. On here I can experiment and express myself in ways that are outside the mainstream and not be judged for it.
Some of the key things I've learnt over the years are the following:
1) Never be afraid to ask for advice or an opinion. Both of these make you a better photographer.
2) Never delete pics unless you really feel they cannot be edit in anyway to improve them. Initial thoughts on a rejected pic change over time and what you thought was a poor pic could be something special with the right adjustments and filters applied.
3) If you do courses to improve your skills either do a one day course or one with no time restraint. The one day courses are good for introductory skills and basics. I'm currently taking an online course which I started back in 2015 but haven't ventured onto much in the past 3 years despite having had plenty of opportunity.
Over the years when I've photographed models there has always been consent forms completed by all parties involved. As the majority of my photos now are of me I tend to not worry so much. I'm old enough to know my stuff will inevitably end up elsewhere and quite frankly if they are that desperate for a male over 50 then I'm actually quite flattered.
There are a few pics dotted around my blog that I'm really proud of because of the general reaction to them, especially when I wasn't sure they were good pics. There is a couple of pics from model photoshoots on separate page which I'm proud of and hunting around for a pic to tie in with both Five Things and February Photofest I had to go back to my first studio photoshoot. It was hard to pick as I realise now I wasn't that bad at the time. This one stands out the most though as it's a simple crop and I'd happily have it placed on a canvas to adorn a wall in my house.
