HughofBardfield's photostream  

Taking photos since I was I about 6-7 - my father was mad on photography, and had his own darkroom. I used to help him with developing & printing, so silver halide and hypo are (probably literally) in my blood! Grew up with Prakticas (doubled as dumbells), and bought my first modern/decent camera in 1988 (an Olympus OM20). Others soon followed and I ended up with OM4, OM2SP, and an OM10 for emergencies, plus about a dozen lenses, several flashguns and other kit.

Did some semi-pro work with that kit a few years back, with pix regularly published in local press, magazines and guidebooks.

Moved house & job 15 years ago and had no space for a darkroom, or reason to take pictures, and lost interest in photography apart from holiday snaps... My wife bought me a P&S Ricoh digital compact in 2004 and my interest was rekindled - especially as I found I could do the "processing" on my PC instead of reeking of chemicals. Flickr also made a huge difference, and gave me a reason to photograph as others could see and comment on my work.

I was effectively made redundant in Nov '06, and bought a DSLR (Olympus E500 kit). That got me back into photography proper. Upgraded to an E510 in 2007 (for sale). I suffered a several-month enforced hiatus in early 2008 after falling down some stairs and breaking my (camera) wrist thanks to some inadequate signage and lighting in a London coffee shop. That also brought on the failure of my fledgling consultancy business and prolonged clinical depression, which still troubles me (as does the financial fallout). Bought a second camera body (E1) in Feb 2008 by PX'ing much of my old OM equipment, and acquired an E30 in December 2009 with compensation from the accident in which I broke my wrist.

After a few years of intensive activity, I now have a major problem finding the time to take photos and (especially) PP them! Not much change from film there, then. Professionally, I run a large GP surgery (16,000 patients) and Walk-In Centre (National Health Service) in a very deprived area of north London. I am (theoretically) also a freelance PR and Marketing consultant. Work takes up a huge amount of time and energy at the moment... especially with an 84 mile daily round trip commute. Normal photographic service will be resumed as soon as possible, or when I win the lottery! My apologies to my Flick friends, contacts and the groups I'm supposed to Mod/ Admin for being out of circulation.

Current kit:

Digital
Olympus E30/HLD4, E510 (for sale) and E1/HLD2
ZD 7-14mm
ZD 11-22mm
ZD 14-54mm
ZD 50-200mm
ZD EC-14 teleconverter
Sigma 105mm Macro
Sigma 135-400mm
Sigma 55-200mm
Konica Hexanon 40mm f1.8 (converted for Four Thirds)
FL50 flash
MF-1 OM-Four Thirds adaptor
Dandelion focus-confirm OM-4/3rds adaptor

Bought my wife an E410 plus 14-42mm and Lowepro Stealth 100 for her birthday in 2008. I get to use it occasionally... ;-)

Film
Olympus OM4 & OM2SP, OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 , 85mm f2, 300mm f4.5, Sigma 70-210mm, Tamron SP 500mm f8 mirror lens, Tamron SP 2X teleconverter, Tamron 24mm f2.5, Sirius 18-28mm and 500mm mirror, T32 and T20 flash

Other stuff
Cokin, Kood and Hi-Tech filters
Portaflash 336VM studio flash heads and accessories
Slik, Benbo & Manfrotto tripods/ monopods, Tamrac, M-Rock & Crumpler bags, Op-Tech camera & tripod straps

Ricoh Caplio R1 /Vivitar slave flash

Software
Adobe Photoshop CS
Adobe Lightroom
CorelDraw
LightZone
Raw Therapee
ShiftN and PT Lens perspective correction software
Focus Magic
Neat Image
DxO Filmpack
Photomatix



Groups I Admin / Mod (when I have time,,,):
www.flickr.com/groups/adobe_lightroom/
www.flickr.com/groups/sigmafourthirds/
www.flickr.com/groups/north_essex/
www.flickr.com/groups/om_four_thirds_adapter/
www.flickr.com/groups/olympusesystem/
www.flickr.com/groups/olympus_e-system_information/
www.flickr.com/groups/lintonzoo/

My blog (Rarely updated these days):
hughweller-lewisphotography.blogspot.com/

Favourite photography blogs / websites:
wvs.topleftpixel.com/
theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer...
www.radiantvista.com/
www.luminous-landscape.com/
www.wrotniak.net/index.html
www.biofos.com/
digitaljournalist.org/
thepioneerwoman.com/
jessicaclaire.net/
www.otilius.blogspot.com/
www.strobist.blogspot.com/

The following are Olympus/ Four-Thirds specific:
e-group.uk.net/
fourthirds-user.com/
www.4-3system.com/modules/news/
www.myfourthirds.com/
olympus.dementia.org/Hardware/




www.danasoft.com