Why Photography? – Glyn Wade

Posted by Glyn Wade

Now you have your own stories….and please feel free to submit them………but this…..is my story….

So where did I start…and why?
It was Claire’s fault!
You want more? Okay…well she saw a three week course at Stoke-on-Trent college that was free apart from a £10 administration charge. The course was a basic introduction to photography and did exactly what it said on the tin. My background and degree are in film so I have always had an eye for an image but now I fancied having a go at a still rather than moving one. That £10 course successfully enticed us both into spending a couple of hundred pounds or so on a longer course…and then the real costs began!

Let’s be honest, photography can be an expensive hobby. We had started with a bridge camera that we shared. We quickly realised that this would not suffice so we then we bought a Nikon D3000 each. Then we discovered HDR and bracketing and we upgraded again and we now have a D5100 each. I’m pretty happy with the camera I have. I know it’s not the best but it does everything I need it to do…for now…

That of course is nowhere near where the costs end…. You need a tripod, and then there are the lenses…and the filters…and the flash…and the rest of the etceteras! And there are things that we DO share still, the 10-22mm lens and our macro lens aren’t something we can afford to have two of. They do make great shared presents though as do Photography days at wildlife parks, macro courses etc etc

After college there were options to go onto higher levels but we decided that wasn’t for us and we scouted out some local camera clubs. We settled on Willfield because it was the only one open all year round, they seemed to do lots of interesting things…and the people weren’t too bad either!

Photography now gives me more of an impetus to go out at a weekend…but makes walking round places a hell of a lot slower! It gives me a sense of pride when someone admires a picture I have taken and sometimes gives me a severe case of lens envy. It gives me a record of places I’ve been to and things I have seen. It gives Claire and I a shared hobby that we can enjoy together and it has given us the chance to meet some wonderful people, make new friends and even something to put on our CVs.

Photography has made us poorer financially but richer in many more ways; so, to answer the title in the question….why the hell not!