Behind the Camera

My life through a fuzzy electronic viewfinder

As a causal effect of developing my website and my transport interests, I have over the last decade taken an interest in photography, both of the digital and analogue forms.

In the last five years, most of my pictures were taken with digital cameras. Some of which have surfaced on this website. This was driven by a penchant for capturing the current Greater Manchester bus scene, as well keeping a photographic record of my travels.

Analogue Ratbaggery

My previous experience in digital photography also spurred me towards the analogue form. Though I loved my pin-sharp digital images, I felt there was something missing. That 'very something' which only film photography could afford. One was the anticipation of calling in Boots three days after dropping your films off for processing and printing. Another, was an attempt at taking modern day images with toy cameras and older analogue cameras.

This began with the purchase of a late 1950s Kodak Brownie, which at this moment is a doorstop due to my (lack of) success in obtaining 127 film. I learnt this lesson by buying an old 35mm camera. This time a Kodak Retinette 022, which has become my favourite oldie with the Schneider lens and its handling abilities. My second reason for this addition was a 'bridge camera' for street photography, which would enable me to familiarise myself with an Olympus OM-1, a recent car boot sale purchase.

Within a month, I treated myself to a Holga 120CFN, thus beginning a new adventure with an all plastic medium format camera.

Early Snapshots

Like most children of the late 1970s and early 1980s, my photographic adventures began with an instamatic camera of some description. My first shots were taken with the Kodak 36 Instamatic Camera, an early 1970s model which took 126 film and flash cubes. Then I bought my first camera to call my own in August 1990, at a car boot sale. This was another instamatic, a Hanimex one taking 110 film with a built-in flash similar to my Nana's.

My first 'grown up camera' (by which I mean one taking 35mm film) was a Practica Zoom 50 in 1999. Some of my early transport images were taken with that one.

My Digital Switchover

Early 2004 saw the addition of a digital camera to my collection, an Olympus Camedia C300 which took Smart Media cards. Two years later, this was replaced by a Nikon Coolpix 5600 taking Secure Digital cards. This fellow still sees regular service due to its discrete size, especially in areas where taking my Compact System Camera (purchased in December 2010) would be a no-no.

Favoured Subjects

As you can tell from this website, public transport features heavily amongst my favoured photographic subjects. A great many of which appear on my Flickr feed. I also enjoy photographing historical buildings, town centres and unusual objects. In recent times, there has been greater use of visuals on my personal blog where my Flickr feed is innocently plundered to illustrate many an article.