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About me
Hi my name is Carol and I will be with you every step of the way as you work through the digital photography projects on this site.So who am I?
My first camerasI can remember my first camera back in the 1970's (not digital of course) which was an old Kodak Instamatic that used 126 film cassettes. It went everywhere with me and my only problem was saving enough pocket money to pay for the film and developing costs.In my teens I moved onto 35mm photography starting out with one of the most basic 35mm camera's ever built, a Zenith from Russia. I would have loved something with auto settings but that trusty manual camera taught me all about apertures and depth of field, exposure settings and film speed. Don't worry if these terms are double dutch to you at the moment I will explain what they are and how you can use them on other pages. Back in those days I needed to use a light meter to work out what settings to use in different lighting. I would point the light meter at the scene in front of the camera, choose one setting and read what the other needed to be in order to get a well exposed photograph; one that was neither too light or too dark. Don't worry its a lot, lot easier nowadays! When my father was assured that I knew the basics he bought me a "proper camera" one that did some of the thinking for me. After leaving school, my first wages were spent on longer and wider lenses. Now I was earning my own money I could afford to get more films developed and began photographing everything and anything I could find. I would run a whole 36 exposure film through the camera on perhaps one tree, while experimenting with different settings and lenses. Each shot was meticulously recorded in a notebook, with all relevant settings, weather conditions and so on. My "education" grew in leaps and bounds.
Developing my own photosIn the early 1980's, after getting married and moving to a three bedroomed house, I commandeered the tiny box room, covered the window, and set up my own photographic darkroom.From then on the bathroom was always adorned with rolls of film hanging up to dry. The house began to smell of developing chemicals, not that I noticed, as I do not have a working sense of smell. Eventually, the complaints about the pong and the arrival of my second child (who needed to use the room as a bedroom) curtailed my fun, and the enlarger and other equipment was banished to the loft.
Taking pictures for othersAt family events I was always the one behind the camera. On arranging visits to relatives I was often asked "You will bring your camera, won't you?". In fact when I arrived at my sister's wedding I was informed "You are the official photographer, we have arranged permission for you to film inside the registry office."
When she was at playschool I was asked to take my camera in and film the children at play. I really enjoyed this project and the parents all clamoured for prints. Some asked if I would visit their home and take portraits of the family, which opened up a whole new avenue for my picture taking and earned me some pennies.
Going digitalWhen digital cameras first came on the scene I was intrigued. Some advantages of digital photography that convinced me into taking the leap were no more processing costs and the convenience of being able to see my pictures as soon as I had taken them. No more frustrating waits for the photo processors to develop and print before I could see the results.Handily, my brother-in-law worked for Fuji and was able to help me purchase a refurbished camera to try out. Being an early model it had drawbacks, like no zoom lens or lcd panel on the back but I realised that this was the way forward and I would never go back to film photography. After playing with the camera for 6 months I sold it on and bought a more advanced model with a powerful, for the time, zoom lens and this time I could see the picture as soon as I took it, I didn't even have to wait until I could download it onto the computer. Magic! The only thing I missed was being able to change lenses. Sadly, in 1991 I was involved in a car accident, leaving me in a great deal of pain. Eventually I was awarded damages by the other party and invested over 1,000 pounds sterling in an Olympus E-20 digital camera and additional lenses. With a computer and digital image editing software I was all set for a future of digital photography projects. A family project I helped in was my mother's book. Not a published book, but one to pass down to her children and grandchildren telling the family story, a type of scrapbook. Photography was required of family members and precious objects to include in its pages. Then there was plenty of restoring old photos to be undertaken, a new experience and one I took to like a duck to water.
Freelance photography jobs
Around this time, the early 90's, I started my own needlework business. I designed embroidery patterns, stitched them and then needed photographs for the kit packaging. New techniques needed to be acquired, with my early attempts turning out grey instead of white and in no way straight! Making a name for myself in this field, I was asked to take the cover photograph for a "real" book on lacemaking. Which, in turn, lead to a commission for the photos in the author's next book. Since then I have written and taken many photos for web use by various clients. Has my love for photography diminished over the years? No way! It is still a passion and one I am looking forward to sharing with you.
Return to digital photography projects home page
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One particular person got very used to being in front of my camera, my daughter. She was photographed doing just about everything; from playing to cooking, from "borrowing" mummy's make up to riding her bike. I took colour shots and black and white portraits of her, using both available light and flash. It was a good job she wasn't camera shy!
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