Welcome to my first blog post. To be quite honest I wasn't sure about including a blog on my portfolio site, I'm not sure if blogs are relevant anymore in a world of YouTube and video content being everywhere, but I chose to include it for the main reason that it will give me purpose to create, not only with images but with articles and thoughts on many aspects of Photography.

I started seriously using a camera in 2010, looking back it was a great time to be getting into digital photography, I had used a Canon DSLR while on holiday and chose to buy my own camera a short time after. I chose a Nikon D90 with the 18-105 kits lens, how I loved that camera! The D90 was the perfect camera to grow with, it could produce beautiful images and felt well built too, I soon added the 35mm f/1.8 dx lens and then in 2011 GAS or "Gear acquisition syndrome" well and truly struck and I got a D7000 followed by a move to the FX D700 along with the 80-200 f/2.8d two ring, 24-70 f/2.8g and the 14-24 f/2.8g wide angle.

I enjoyed several years with these cameras and lenses, doing paid work as 2nd shooter for a friends wedding photography business, and for my own enjoyment doing lots of motorsport, aviation and landscape work whenever I could.

In 2015 I was lured into the world of mirrorless with the Fujifilm X-T1, I sold all of my Nikon equipment to make the switch, and bought the camera with the 18-55 kits lens, along with the 35mm f/1.4R, 14mm f/2.8 and 50-140mm f/2.8 lenses. I like aspects of this camera, the lenses were sensational but the body couldn't quite match the Nikon in terms of shadow recovery and overall dynamic range, it wasn't bad for an APS-C camera but it was no match for the Nikon D700 / D7000 pairing. I started to realise I should never have sold my D700, it was in mint condition like all my other equipment and although I got good money for them it was never enough to justify the switch.

2017 saw a return to Nikon with the D750, I kept it simple and purchased the 50mm f/1.8g and 20mm f/1.8g lenses, which is all I used for nearly 9 years. During this time we of course had the pandemic and I really lost my interest in using the camera, I also fell a little bit into the trap of believing my new iPhone 13 Pro was enough to keep me happy in terms of image quality, we see this each time a new phone is released don't we, comparisons online in good light showing just how good the phone is. Needless to say that belief didn't last, before long I started to see just how bad the images actually looked, not only that I was missing the creative aspect of actually using a camera and tripod, with filters and then the subsequent editing. I came back to my camera in 2025 and just fell in love with photography again, I still own the D750 as even in the mirrorless era it's an outstanding camera, but I have added a Z5II along with the 50mm f/1.8s and 85mm f/1.8s lenses.

I recently found a mint condition D700 on eBay, and am now re-united with a camera I knew I shouldn't have sold, I also found a spotless 80-200 f/2.8d two ring to go with it and my latest purchase was an "as new" 300mm f/4d. Both of these lenses don't really make any sense in 2026 but they were relatively cheap considering their condition and produce beautiful images on all three cameras, in fact they are a joy to use on the Z5II with its focus peaking.

I'll do a series of blog posts to review these cameras and lenses in more detail, at the moment I'm just enjoying using my cameras again and the creative part of me seems to have resurfaced as a result, hence the creation of a website and blog, I think this could be like a form of journalling and its something I think will be a positive thing in the long run.