Just a little about my Photographic Journey
I have been taking photographs for many years starting with a Kodak Brownie 127 before I joined the Royal Navy in March 1964 at the age of 15.
Whilst serving on my first ship, HMS LEANDER from 1965-1967, we joined the Far East Fleet for ten months. This included visits to Gibraltar, Malta, Aqaba, Yenbo, Aden, Mombassa, Seychelles, Gan, Singapore, Subic Bay, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand We had a number of stops at Singapore for maintenance and training and it was on one of these stopovers on a trip to the city that I purchased a Yashica Minister III. This happened on the 1st Anniversary of Singapore’s independence – 9th August 1966 - and although we were not supposed to go into the city on that day due to possible trouble, we did anyway! (As an aside, I do remember being in Bugis St. when England won the World Cup in 1966 – the street went wild as you can imagine– checkout Wikipedia if you want to learn more of this infamous street!)
That camera lasted me until 1985 when the shutter mechanism finally succumbed to rust whilst serving at CinCIBERLANT Oerias in Portugal!
Obviously money well spent as the camera travelled the world with me, on ships and shore bases, ranging from HMS LALESTON, HMS INTREPID, HMS YARMOUTH and HMS LIVERPOOL to, FOSNI, HMS TERROR and all corners of the world (Gibraltar, Malta, Sicily, Naples, France, Singapore (again 1970-1972!), Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Subic, Gan, Aden, Suez, Freeport West Indies, Florida, Bermuda, Iceland, Faeroes, Scotland, Falkland Isles, and finally, Portugal.
My next camera was my first sortie into the SLR world with a Yashica FX3, purchased via the American PX in Lisbon 1985. Portugal was my final posting and I left the Royal Navy in 1988 having spent a very happy and rewarding 25 years in the Service.
I spent the next few years almost in a camera wilderness as I adjusted to 'Civvy Street' and adapted to life working at the Port of Felixstowe. Although I had been taking pictures, I found my interest waning as I did not do my own processing, nor did I have the inclination or facilities to do so.
The digital world advanced by leaps and bounds during the nineties and after purchasing my first PC in the year 2000 it wasn't long before I purchased my first digital camera - a FuijiFilm FinePix 2600Zoom. This rejuvenated my photographic hobby and it was not long before I upgraded to a Fuiji FinePix S602Zoom with additional lenses.
On retirement from the Port of Felixstowe I upgraded to a Canon EOS20D and am now the proud owner of a Canon EOS7D, numerous telephoto lenses and a large number of Digital Imaging Programmes!!
I remain a keen photographer and over the years I have accumulated thousands of images, some of which I will be sharing with you on this web site……………………..
I hope you have as much enjoyment viewing them as I have in taking and producing them.