My photography journey.

So, being as this is the first post of a new blog, where better than to tell you about my personal journey with photography.

There’ll be a few bits missing here or there… it’s been a long and winding road.

My earliest memory of having an interest in photography was when I was 5 or 6, my parents and I had gone somewhere for a walk, I can’t honestly remember the exact details, but I specifically remember coming to a beautiful, breathtaking view in the English countryside and exlaiming “When I’m older, I’m going to come back and photograph this!”

Obviously I never have, and I cant even remember where it was now. Come on, it was nearly 50 years ago!

My actual photography journey began in roughly 1991 or maybe 1992.

After hearing I had an interest in photography a relative very kindly gave me a lovely photography bundle, comprising: an old Pentax KM with 55mm f1.8, an old Hanimex flash gun, a whole bunch of filters and a load of photography magazines from the late 70’s.

It was very much a case of there you go, have fun!

I had no idea at all what I was doing. it all started tentatively picking it up, looking through the lens, focussing the camera, making the needle line up in the viewfinder and generally just playing around

It took me a long time to actually put a roll of film in the camera though. At the time I was friends with a guy at college called Marc who was also mad keen on photography and had been for a while.

We eventually arranged a date to go out for a wander and see if we could capture some shots.

By pure luck or perhaps because I had an eye for photography, or maybe because I had spent SO many hours with my nose in those camera magazines, I came back with a shot that was pretty damn impressive.

Sadly the image has been lost to multiple moves and ruthless culling over the past 30 years.

Was it a competition winner? No, of course not, but for someone who’d never even put a roll of film in a camera before, I was over the moon.

I’ve done my best to recreate roughly what it looked like with AI. *************

Anyway, after that I was hooked, I was convinced I was a ‘photographer’ which in retrospect is a little embarassing and just a touch cringe.

While I’d gotten lucky with a shot, I still knew absolutely nothing about photography.

I can’t remember how often I photographed, or how many rolls of film I put through the camera, but not many. I was a student and even back then it wasn’t a cheap hobby shooting film.

The next thing I cleary remember photographing was a female friend of mine. In her knickers. (I did explain that the photography mags were from the 70’s didn’t I?)

There were two things that were memorable about this shoot, firstly seeing my very beautiful friend in a state of undress and secondly (most importantly) it was the first time using a brand new film called Ilford XP2. If you don’t know, XP2 is a black and white (ish) film you prcess in C41 process. (I didn’t know at the time that there’d be an XP1 before the XP2!)

The prints usually come with a green or sepia tinge.

Back in the 90’s shooting Black and White was way more expensive than shooting colour, so this was actually the first time I’d shot a B/W film.

Back in the 90’s, you could get a roll of film developed at Truprint with some ‘compact prints’ 5″ x 3.1/4″ for £2.99 with a free roll of film.

Anyway, sadly my friend and the print have long since gone from my life! I have once again tried my very best to recreate it with AI here: *************

Well, that was it really. I had now officially ‘made it’ and I was a ‘damn good photographer’.

I still didn’t really know anything about photography.

Shortly after I’d finished college, I managed to back a job as an assistant in a London studio as a gopher. Pay was an abismal £7200 (that wasn’t a lot, even back then!) per year and I got 2 whole weeks of holiday per year. 2!

However I was as happy as Larry.

Curiously, I didn’t do much photography to begin with, in fact I learned Black and White printing. Even as I sit here typing this, a smile has crept across my face and my wife ofetn says “You always smile when you talk about that time.”

I LOVED my little darkroom. It was as hot as hell, and it was gruelling work, but in my young head I felt I’d made it, knocking out prints, while listening to the latest hits on the newest radio station, Virgin FM. (Does that still exist?)

After several months printing away, I was finally allowed to… assist the photographers!

But needless to say, this WAS incredibly useful experince and if I hadn’t already, I realised I knew absolutley nothing. these guys were phenomenal photographers.

All good things come to an end and this did. I became more an more unhappy subsisting in London.

I worked for the BBC for a while and then Jessops, the camera shop.

Working selling camers isn’t a great way to hone ones photography skills, but it did give me the ability to sell, which is an absolutle necessity if you’re going to be running your own business.

Eventually I ended up working with a wedding photographer.

For anyone who remembers the ‘old days’ of wedding photography, think medium format film, lots of groups, you’ll remember when ‘candid’ or ‘reportage’ photography slowly started creeping in.

Of course, there was push back from the old guard. They didn’t understand it or really want to embrace it. But for this particular company, that was my job.

The main photographer would do the group shots, and I’d be there covering the ‘candid/casual/reportage images’ all shot on 35mm, a mix of colour and black and white.

Eventually I did learn to shoot the formal groups as well, I preferred the candid, but a gig is a gig.

In about 2003, myself and the photographer had a bit of a bust up. It was inevitable really. Two opposing styles of photography, him sure that people really wanted the ‘formal’ shots and that the ‘fun’ shots were an added bonus. I felt the absolute opposite.

It came down to one of those arguments where he said “If you think you can do better, why don’t you go and do it yourself?”

So I did.

And that’s it really, I have been a self employed photographer ever since.

I find myself now in an unusal place that I really, really wish I could dial back the years a little and go back to the time where film was the only option.

I don’t hate digital photography, but I find it soulless, robotic, too clean.

You can make a print over and over again and it will be exactly the same.

If a picture doesn’t come out quite the way you wanted it you can digitally retouch it.

And when I see YouTubers taking a burst of 40-50 pictures to get that one image, I curl up inside a little.

I WANT the chaos of film photography, I WANT that awkward period waiting to see if what you’ve taken was fabulous or just didn’t work.

We’ve become impatient, we want to see everything NOW. I hate it.

I never really ‘left’ film photography, but I am now returning to it lock stock and barrel, both personally and professionally.

I want to slow down again. Treat my photography like art. Maybe it all sounds a little pretentious, but it feels right to me.

This site is a place to share my journey, share some of the many things I’ve learned over the years and maybe help some folks start their journey too.

Pete