George Thomas
I took my first 'snaps' in 1938 at the age of 10 and I have all my negatives and slides from that day to this! After a period of great fervour with my first 'good' camera during the late 1940s, photography went on the back burner, apart from an occasional roll of Kodachrome taken on holidays. In 1978 I joined Camberwell Camera Club Inc. and this gave me the kick-start I needed as I always wanted to get back to doing my own b&w developing and printing.
Nearly 30 years on I became tired of darkroom work and bought a Pentax Digital SLR and this camera got my enthusiasm for photography going again. Coming to grips with PhotoShop was quite a challenge, but it no longer intimidates me and I started entering competitions once more with some successes - but also a lot of disappointments.
My advice to photographers wanting to improve their work and have more incentive for photography, is to join a camera club and to read books and magazine articles. If there is no club near you, membership of the Australian Photographic Society is a great option and attending the APS annual convention will introduce you to experts from all over
Learn from the experience of others.
George Thomas, FAPS, Hon AFB, SSVAPS