I everyone I'm a retired ex soldier 12 years service British army,
Iv'e been interested in Photography since about the age of 16,when i purchased a DIY home darkroom kit!!
And thats a long time ago as I am now age 57years young,I was fascinated to see the Images develop before my very eyes!!, and thats something that you never forget.
When I joined the army and got married soon after at the age of 24,
I bought several SLR Camera's and shot many thousands of Images,i Think my son who is now 32 years old must be the most photographed child in the world!!
Well I managed to set up a small Darkroom in most of the married quarters I was posted to,But it was difficult some-times, so I changed from BW printing,to Colour slides as it was much easier to develop than BW film as you only needed a developing tank and a few chemicals No darkroom needed!!,Then all you had to do was cut the film and mount it into card mounts which you could then view with a small hand held viewer,or in my case a slide projector.
I finally sold all my film kit on leaving the forces,as I found I didn't have the time anymore,and had grown a little bored with it all,mainly because of all the hassle i think?!!.
Well many years later my wife was watching the shopping channel QVC on tv,and the todays special value was a thing called a "Digital camera",my Interest was peaked but it was about £550 pounds a lot of money, but we discussed it and decided to by it as you could try it out for thirty days and if it you did not like it you could have a full refund so no loss!!.
It was "Ricoh 1 megapixel camera",I am afraid I cannot recall the model no. Anyway the rest is history as they say,I must be on my 14 digital camera by now.
My current camera's are as follows:
Canon 20D,Olympus E1,E5OO and recently bought E400, and just bought E510.
Just added the new Olympus E3.
I don't think that i have used my 20D since getting the Olympus camera's!!.Awaiting the new E510 with much anticipation despite having many good lens for the 20D,i may sell it on Ebay unless canon come up with something new and better than the current 30d and 400d,I think i will stick with Olympus as There much more ergonomic and nicer to use, never mind the super picture tone and colour superiority in my eyes at least!!
I shoot Landscapes mainly and the odd flowers, but keep trying new things.
Happy shooting to you all
Patrick Savidge-Smerdon