Question #1

What first sparked your interest in photography?

I think the love of photography has always been present within me but for one reason or another it never really flourished until the digital era.

My first contacts with photography reach way back to my elementary school days. On my request I was given an old Zenit camera and black-and white film but very little came out of that and I'm afraid no photos are preserved from that time. I was still a kid and there were things more important and less embarrassing (or so I thought) than running around with a camera.

The next time my interest in photography was aroused was when I already had a job and wished to record some moments from my life. I got a wide angle point-and-shoot Yashica from a friend and took some very nice photos from my trips with it. Another Yashica followed a few years later, this time with a zoom lens. However, I found having to wait for the films to be developed too tedious. And once a lab ruined two rolls of my film with what I expected to be wonderful photos from a flower exhibition without even apologising for the damage, I was so frustrated I put the camera away for a number of years without ever considering taking a photo again.

However, with the development of digital cameras my interest in photography was rekindled and at the end of 2005 I was given a Canon Powershot A620, a camera I still use and hold dear. I started taking it everywhere with me so that I might capture some special moments if they happen to occur in my presence.