It's an interesting exercise taking up a new hobby that becomes an addiction, especially when you know that time and budget constraints will never allow you to achieve what you see can be done (unless you win the Lotto, of course). I've always loved photography - my first sophisticated camera came with me on a trip overseas at the age of 19, and a friend gave me a light meter - wow! The height of professionalism.![]()
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At a much more advanced age you buy what seems like the ultimate in cameras, with an 18-55 mm lens. Then, after having achieved Camera 101 after about six months, you simply must have a zoom lens, you can't do without a filter, and another polariser to bring out the sky in your shots, all of which you have learnt from (expensive) photography magazines.
Now you need a good photo editing programme, and someone to teach you how to use it. Oh, and you also need a zillion-gig external hard drive to hold all those shots that you just might be able to edit one day.
You join the local photography club, where submissions are reviewed each month by a panel of judges "so that you can learn". Which is great, and you learn a lot - but from folk who have lenses at the cost of a small house, the 4x4 to go with the lenses, and the time to spend weeks in the Kgalagadi Reserve in search of the perfect lion/cheetah/leopard/Bataleur/elephant shot. Which they get, every time.
So you come home feeling great because one of your three images received a gold in your (beginners) category, and desperate because you want more and more - experience, time and cash.
Ah well, I guess the most important thing is to have fun and love what you're doing while you learn to see things through your lens - and realise that Ansel Adams was one of a kind. And at the very least, you'll have a lot of screensavers that really give you pleasure!
PS: Forgot to mention the tripod!









