I thought I would start off this blog by writing something about my journey into photography.

My first camera đź“·

The first camera I ever used was a film camera made by Olympus. It was a camera shared among my family. It wasn’t a fancy camera that came with an exotic lens; it was just a simple point-and-shoot with very limited controls. I remember we had to buy rolls of film made by Kodak or Fujifilm, and they came in 24 or 36 exposures per roll. They weren’t cheap, and having those rolls of film developed also cost money.

My first digital camera

The first time I used a digital camera was for a school project in 2003, when I was studying at a computer school. The camera was borrowed from a lecturer with whom I, unfortunately, lost contact. I recall that it was a liberating experience. A small memory card replaced the roll of film and could store hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs. I was no longer afraid that I would mess up the film’s exposure. At the time, I wasn’t interested in photography, so I never bothered to learn how to take a decent photograph; the camera was on auto mode most of the time. Now that we can review photos instantly on the back of the camera, I wonder how many of us would miss the anticipation and excitement of seeing how the photos turned out from a roll of film at the photo shop.

The first digital camera I owned was a gift from my Mum just before I came to Australia to study. It was a Sony Cybershot DSC-P73, a point-and-shoot with only 4.1 megapixels, and it ran on two AA batteries. I still have the camera, and it still works!

My first DSLR

My first DSLR was a Nikon D3100, which I bought in 2011. It came with an 18-55mm kit lens, and I bought a few more lenses: the Nikon 35mm and 50mm, both f/1.8, as well as a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, which I mainly used for landscapes. I was still getting into photography, so I didn’t know much about things like sensor size, f-stops, composition, etc.

In 2013, I bought the Nikon D7100 for about $1100 and used the camera for two years before selling it in 2015 for $890. I also sold all the lenses. I sold them not because I was giving up photography, but I saw the coming of the mirrorless age.

I still have the Nikon D3100 attached to the kit lens, which I have repurposed it to become a bookend 🤣.

My first full-frame mirrorless camera

In 2015, I invested in the Sony camera system. I waited for the price to drop considerably before getting my first-ever full-frame mirrorless camera, the Sony A7R, a tiny camera with a massive 36-megapixel sensor! When I saw the release of the Sony A7 and A7R in 2013, I knew back then that mirrorless cameras would be the way to go in the future, and DSLRs would eventually fade away. I was right. I still use a Sony camera today in 2023 and have acquired a good number of Sony lenses over the last 8 years.

Now thinking back, I came very close to replacing the D7100 with the D810 or the Canon 5D. I’m glad that I didn’t.

Why I ❤️ photography?

I love to capture what I see, but I’m terrible at painting or sketching, so the next best tool I can use that is not a paintbrush or a pencil is a camera. All it requires is to move, see, and put my finger on the shutter button 📸.

What are my favourite genres 🏞️?

I started off doing mostly landscape, or should I say scenic photography. But I would like to explore street photography more. Photographs from the street are like a time capsule; they capture a moment in time, and that moment may not occur again.

What’s in my bag 🎒?

I’m shooting with two cameras, the Sony A7CR and the Sony A7RV with a couple of lenses, the 16-25mm f/2.8 G, 24-50mm f/2.8 G, 70-200mm f/4 G II, and 14mm f/1.8 GM. For street photography, I like to use focal length between 35mm to 50mm, and for landscape, I like it between 20mm to 24mm. I also like to use these lenses creatively together with the 61MB goodness of A7R which gives me the flexibility to shoot in APS-C mode to either reduce the file size or extend the focal length.

Who is my photography idol?

No one because I don’t know who is who. I never looked into them.

If I have to pick one, it would be Henri Cartier-Bresson. I was reading up on street photography and I enjoyed his work and resonated with his photography style and approaches.