Derry

Meet my nephew Caidyn… Just one of my many inspirations for my photography. I captured this photo of him yesterday, which has inspired me to write a little about photography and why I love it so much.

I have always loved photography. When I was little I remember getting my first film camera and using it to photograph everything and anything. Even though, I never had the money to get the film developed I quickly became obsessed with the idea of being able to capture moments and scenes in a photograph. I loved and still love going through old family photos and learning about my previous generations and seeing what was different in photos of a bygone era or what my parents looked like and lived like before I was even born…

As I got older I moved on to digital compact cameras, which opened up a whole new world to me. I could take so many pictures and go through them on my computer, save them, print them, show them, share them…

Photography took a backseat for a while, during my uni years, other than photos of student nights out and fun. However, time wasn’t wasted. I carried on capturing moments and also learned the art of multimedia production through mediums like web design, print, graphic design etc… It didn’t click with me that I could merge the two together. I loved design and loved my photography, but kept the two separate.

Last year, after working for many years in the web design and print field in the finance industry I felt it was time for some new creative inspiration. I returned to my love of photography and did a City and Guilds course in Digital Photography. I purchased my very first DSLR, a nikon D3000… It was here, that I fell in love with photography once more. This was a whole new photography ballgame! Both the course, the camera and also flickr opened up a brand new creative avenue and passion for me. I haven’t stopped photographing since.

I haven’t settled on a genre that I love to photograph in particular. I love child portraits, the obscure things that surround us, more creative fantasy photos and I adore nature too… I love photography itself and I also love bringing a photo or ten in to Photoshop (my favourite editing software for design and photography) and applying the skills I have learned over the yrs to come up with all sorts of interesting photographs. I feel like I have a lot to learn and a lot to give and who knows where it will take me. All I know is that on an ‘up day’ or a ‘down day’ this is what I love to do.

My friends and family have been very supportive and love my work and there’s nothing I love more than suprising them on birthdays, with a gift print, or canvas or framed Black and White piece of photography, where they know a lot of thought and effort has gone in to the work. My sister, whose house was a minimilistic barren place is now like my personal gallery of her family. I love seeing my work on her walls and I love that she loves it.

I finished my course with a delightful 3 distinctions and I have enrolled for the level 2. I can’t wait to see where photography takes me this year. I am ever-learning and ever-loving. I know I will not have a camera far away after discovering my DSLR and seeing the wonderful world around me in a whole different light!

View my photography. Do contact me if you want to discuss or chat about anything photography related I’m ALWAYS happy to chat about it!