Hi everyone...
My name's Mike. I'm from - and live in - County Durham in the North East of England.
Like most folks, I handled cameras from an early age - but I didn't actually get into photography properly until my 40s (I'm 52 now). Despite a brief dalliance with so-called "Lomography" at the beginning, most of my photography has been digital. I primarily shoot Pentax equipment (no, I'm not a masochist), but also Sony A-mount (nope - *definitely* not a masochist!!). Frankly, I'm not an amazing photographer - at best, I'd say I'm "OK". My technical skills and understanding way outstrip my creative and compositional abilities, perhaps somewhat explained - yet not excused - by my professional background in technology.
In November of 2021, I started shooting film. I have a variety of different cameras to use - of varying qualities - in half- and full-frame 135 and 6x6 / 645 120 formats. I'm learning to develop my own B&W negatives at home with a tank and reels (but using labs for my colour negatives), and digitising them with a DSLR / copy-stand / light panel rig, then converting in software with either Negative Lab Pro in Lightroom or my own well-researched and developed methods using GIMP 2.10 and RawTherapee.
I've so much to learn - specifically with regard to film, developing and digitising, but also in photography generally... so, whilst I can hopefully contribute and comment here occasionally based on a few of the technical skills I've learned over time, I suspect most of my involvement will be asking for assistance rather than providing it!
Thanks for having me, and very best wishes to all...
Mike
My name's Mike. I'm from - and live in - County Durham in the North East of England.
Like most folks, I handled cameras from an early age - but I didn't actually get into photography properly until my 40s (I'm 52 now). Despite a brief dalliance with so-called "Lomography" at the beginning, most of my photography has been digital. I primarily shoot Pentax equipment (no, I'm not a masochist), but also Sony A-mount (nope - *definitely* not a masochist!!). Frankly, I'm not an amazing photographer - at best, I'd say I'm "OK". My technical skills and understanding way outstrip my creative and compositional abilities, perhaps somewhat explained - yet not excused - by my professional background in technology.
In November of 2021, I started shooting film. I have a variety of different cameras to use - of varying qualities - in half- and full-frame 135 and 6x6 / 645 120 formats. I'm learning to develop my own B&W negatives at home with a tank and reels (but using labs for my colour negatives), and digitising them with a DSLR / copy-stand / light panel rig, then converting in software with either Negative Lab Pro in Lightroom or my own well-researched and developed methods using GIMP 2.10 and RawTherapee.
I've so much to learn - specifically with regard to film, developing and digitising, but also in photography generally... so, whilst I can hopefully contribute and comment here occasionally based on a few of the technical skills I've learned over time, I suspect most of my involvement will be asking for assistance rather than providing it!
Thanks for having me, and very best wishes to all...
Mike