It is funny how we land up doing things. I would have to lie to you if I had to pin point the exact time and date I took to photography. If I think back I always had a camera close by be it at school functions, holidays and birthdays. If I think about it my first paid job as a “photographer” was taking passport photos of school members of the history society who needed passports to cross through the Transkei and later those who were interested in identification documents and learners licence.
There is that other factor that my father was a keen photographer as well, hence the easy access to equipment, maybe which was the stimulus that steered me to my love of photography who knows.
What I can say that the last wave of inspiration can came was a trip to a game farm in Kragga Kamma where both my wife and I had point and shoot digital cameras fitted with a 3 times zoom lens, sadly the awe of seeing a rhino and not having the ability to take a decent photo due to the limitations of the camera brought about the purchase of my first rig the Fujifilm S5800, in June 2008 at the opening of incredible connection for the discounted price of R1500.00.
And so started the quest for that ultimate photo a quest similar to that of my father that produced his masterpiece that hangs in his lounge today.
I have no formal education in photography however I have attended the courses both basic and extended as offered by Pine Pienaar as can be viewed at www.learnphotography.co.za
My personal library consists of a book, digital photography for dummies, that my sister Thalia bought me as a birthday present, that brought about many “ah ha” moments, also in my collection is the recently acquired “The digital photography step by step secrets for how to make your photos look like the pros Volumes 1-3 by Scott Kelby alongside various photographic magazines.
As one tog (photographer) said it is always best to not specialize as you might find one aspect of a genre been used to compliment the other and as much as I find this true I still find swimsuit photography my favorite, maybe been part of a lifesaving club has something to do with the draw to the beachfront.
