The 'Big Day'

As of the day that I have received my very first digital SLR camera. Ordered on Thursday 30th June 2011. Arrived at 10:45am on Saturday 2nd July 2011. Canon 7d. Beautiful. This is when everything gets a million times better for me.

Whilst the 350D was a great camera to learn with, I found the restrictions closing around me rather quickly when I started getting a bit more adventurous and wanted to do more with my camera. The more I got smothered, the more I lost my 'keen' for photos. I decided I was going to save up for a while and buy a better model before trying to do any more with it.

So I shelled out £1200 on a Canon 7D. My first digital SLR camera! Chosen for it's prettiness and it's 8fps shooting (I've missed out on a lot of epic action shots in the past two years... realised it was something I really wanted to dabble in more). I could not contain my excitement when it came. I might have welled up a little bit when I first saw it laying there in it's box. Totally new.

There it is. Straight out of the box. Body only. It's beautiful, isn't it? Makes you me want to cry.

I then preceeded to look at it for approximately 45 minutes before actually getting a lens on it and playing. Though, once that bridge was crossed, I then forced my other half's brother outside to play 'keepy-ups' with his football out in the garden while I took photos of him and played with the settings.

I couldn't believe how the camera just purred away taking pictures when I got it onto high-speed continuous shooting... I thought Adam was going to cry by the time I let him finish kicking that ball but he held himself together rather well. XD

I've still got a lot to play with on this camera though at the point of writing this blog entry I have already done 4 photoshoots, been on a film set and have another couple of shoots set up for tomorrow.

Want to see some images from it? Next blog for you then!

The Beginning

OK, so... I've finally decided to start blogging about my photography. I'm not sure whether this will be interesting for anyone but at the very least, I might find it interesting to read back one day!

 I'm going to start it off by briefly summing up how I got started and what I've been up to so far so that I can blog from the present.

I became interested in photography quite late. I  picked up a camera for the first time in 2009 at the fresh young age of 20 years.

Starting out as a freelance part-time model, I spent a lot of time with photographers, building up portfolios and the like. I had a lot of ideas for photoshoots but I found that the photographs themselves rarely came out as I had envisioned them. I realised that I wanted more than anything to create. To be the creator. As a model, your creativity can be limited as, whether your photographer is easygoing and flexible or not, you never truly have the control you need to create the image you are hoping for. You are always relying heavily on the photographer.

After getting to know a couple of photographers quite well, one in particular, (still a very good friend) Pete Baldrey effectively changed my life, I suppose. I mentioned that I would like to 'have a go' at photography and so he loaned me his Canon 350D and off I went!

My first 'photoshoot' with a wonderful girl, Kiera Gould (Masquerade shoot, note the pictures!), was amazing. We drove to Pete's studio and he showed me how to work the lighting and then told me to give him a shout if I needed anything. I was so excited! We were shooting late into the evening, throwing more and more ideas and potential images around. It is still to this day one of my favourite shoots just for the sheer amount of fulfillment it left me with.

After that shoot I was sincerely hooked and I am still bouncing around with excitement before every shoot to this day and I can be buzzing for days and days afterwards.

So there it is. That is how it began...