The little icon I use online is a little grainy and dark image of my holding my new Canon 60D. Why do I use this image? I use it because it was taken by my daughter and was the first time I held the DSLR!

​Not really a ground breaking moment in history, but for me it was the moment a 30+ year dream had been fulfilled.

My interest in photography probably dates back to my early childhood. My grandfather had quite an extensive range of SLR equipment and actively took pictures which he developed himself in his own darkroom.

When I was at secondary school I had an opportunity to take "photography" as a subject. It was a great deal of fun taking and developing the photographs, some of which I still have today. Of course, back then it was all about film and darkroom development which today would probably be a full subject in themselves.

After the school subject completed, I was excited enough to buy my first and very own camera. It certainly wasn't an SLR, but it was sophisticated enough for me to conduct what I considered "real photography".

Due to the cost of film and development of photographs, I decided to shoot most of my images as slides. This allowed me to keep costs under control since I didn't have very much pocket money through this time.

At the time I promised myself that one day I would buy a SLR. When I made myself that promise I was in my mid teens. I finally realised that dream some 30 years later when I purchased a Canon 60D DSLR.