Flickr: Amadeus Varadi Hellequin

The world is my country & my religion is love.

Thy eternal summer shall not fade.

Photography, a journey with these delightful little boxes, that capture light.

I always had an interest in art, music, literature, film & especially photography. A was given an Olympus instamatic camera for my 11th birthday & I loved taking photographs with it. Of course it had no manual settings but I got to grips with composition. Any pocket money I had would go on film & developing. I remember when a roll of film cost 1.59 & it was £1.99 to get it developed.

Years later, three events would change me considerably with regard to photography.
I had a brief fling with a professional photographer, the delightful Dr. Kirsten Richards of Leeds. Her photographs were astounding to me. I admired the level of thought & preparation she put into each shot & her images, especially of New York, were stunning. She took one of the only photographs of me that I ever truly liked & I even allowed my beloved grandmother to have it framed. Kirsten used the Canon EOS system & had a Ricoh back up camera.

It was my first introduction to SLR photography. I was in the midst of saving money for an SLR, but when my mother picked up on my interest in photography she offered me her old Pentax Asahi SP 1000. A camera which I still treasure to this day. Suddenly my shots possessed an unprecedented quality. I was taking photographs which drew positive comments from people. Whilst I loved preserving a moment, I still was just a casual snapper. But then in 2002 I found the realm of digital cameras... & I couldn't afford one...

Until I went to Shanghai on September 12th, 2003 & bought a Casio Exilim. My first digital shots were of Shanghai. And what a great place to be with a camera. Let alone, one that I could snap away with, without worrying about buying film. It was a turning point. Some shots still survive here although hundreds more are on old SATA hard drives.

www.flickr.com/photos/rucken/sets/72157622571066048/with/...

Then it fell in a glass of beer in Strong Bar on Chang-Yi Liu & I replaced it with a Sony P model digital camera Boasting not 3.2 megapixels but 5. The camera cost me a lot of money, but I'd managed to convince the store in Lotus Brand Mall to let me part-ex the damaged Casio. This took the sting out of the purchase. I must have paid an additional £150.00 for the camera but when I got back to the UK the same camera had only just come out & was being sold in Dixons for £459.00... I had purchased a bargain. I was in love with digital photography.

Finally in 2006 I visited Amsterdam with my friend Johnny Epstein from Toronto. He had a Canon EOS 20D & his shots were stunning compared to the Canon IXUS I had at the time. I was reminded that the lens makes all the difference. After taking several shots with his camera I knew that DSLR photography was for me. In January 2008, I bought a Leica D-Lux 3 for 600 dollars, taking advantage of the 2 for 1 exchange rate against pound sterling. This was the best camera I could afford at the time. It even shot decent video. Unfortunately this camera was stolen by a hotel cleaning lady in Birmingham on the morning after a night out with Ankush Jain, himself now a budding photographer..

Then in August 2008 in Sydney Australia, whilst I was taking photos on the only cameras I had left, a Canon IXY2000 & the Nokia N82, which had a brilliant Zeiss lens (see the Luna Park shot) Canon launched a new budget DSLR: the EOS 1000D.

It appeared in Stores whilst I was there & after a quick play around with it. I spent half my holiday money on it, much to the dismay of my girlfriend of 5 years at the time Caroline Newberry. She soon changed her mind when she saw the shots I took with it in Taronga Zoo. The level of detail on the waterlogged fur of a Seal was something to behold. The shots with the 70-300mm telephoto kit lens was a confirmation for me that digital photography had now surpassed film photography. I never looked back. Continuing the traditional demise of my previous cameras the 1000D was rendered unusable by a grain of fine silica sand from Whitehaven beach getting stuck in between the shutter button & I went back to using the phone & the IXY2000. The next stop was Japan, where the 1000D (rebel) was superseded by the Canon EOS KISS XII, the Japanese name for the next Rebel up the line, known in the UK as the Canon 450D. I couldn't be in Japan without a DSLR & so, vowing to get the 1000D repaired under the worldwide warranty & sell it, I used the remaining half of my cash & bought it. Caroline was not impressed by my spending at this point. She had never see me go through so much money. But then it was my money & cameras were what I chose to spend it on. The shots of Japan were among the best I had taken at that point. Although I was snapping away at everything I felt was important. Hey, when in Rome... (' *,)

I even documented the majority of exhibits from the Peace Museum in Hiroshima.

www.flickr.com/photos/rucken/4007390249/in/set-7215762245...

Back in the UK one year on & wanted to upgrade cameras. Even though I could have afforded a 40D or even 50D at the time I wouldn't have been able to afford a decent lens, so I opted for an EOS 500D & an old 17-35mm 2.8 L lens, both of which I found on eBay. By selling the 450D (it went for £350 for just the body, which was exactly what I'd paid for it from Yen conversion over a year earlier) I was able to purchase both for just under a grand & now I was discovering the magic of Canon's L lenses. The 500D shot the Montreal set on flickr as well as Los Angeles, New York City, the Lawson's wedding in Rock Hill (as the reception photographer) & much of New Orleans.

During a trip to the US in 2010 I purchased the 7D body & a 50mm 1.4 which I use extensively to this day. My most recent purchase was the magnificent 70-200mm 2.8 IS lens which is my favourite, even though it's a workout carrying it around. This lens took me to my first professional assignment. The journey continues.

At the time of writing my next purchase will be the Canon 5D mk III when it comes out. I would have chosen the 5D mk II but the 7D's autofocus system was superior & I required a fast burst mode in full RAW for photographing Motorbike Racing.

I doubt anyone will read this but for some reason I enjoyed writing it. Photography is a passion. I won't list out reams of great artistic photographers like Man Ray,Todd Klassy, Tom Hoops, Thomas Hawk & Peter Lik... (' *,) I mostly admire photographers that use their medium to accelerate social change for the better. And if you don't know who they are then I would prefer you to find out for yourself.

amadeo July 14th 2011

It is said that the human eye is around 72 megapixels... let's fit my left eye with a new camera & Borg it up...