A reflection of photography as a hobby(1987-2011)

It is a long story beginning way back in 1987 but I will try to make it short. On my

 10th wedding anniversary I bought Nikon F3 to record my first ever family holiday abroad with my wife. On returning home, I forgot my RM2,000 camera and the battery leaked and damaged the whole camera beyond economic repairs! I should have bought a disposable camera instead.

Lesson learnt: Think big but begin small.

During the '90s, I have a few compact cameras for my family photos, travels and projects photos. Just snapping around for pictorial records and memories. Photography was not a hobby yet. Period.

Fast forward to 21st Dec,2006-it was a very historical day for me when at the age of 54, I only managed to buy myself a DSLR-Canon 400D. During my photo lesson and shooting at Putrajaya Wetland, I met a young chap, about 14 years and I saw a Canon 400D hanging from his neck. Lucky boy!!!

Over the years, I met a few friends who shared the same hobby and I also joined KLickrs- a local photographers group in KL where we post our gathering photos on Flickr. From these acquaintances and friendships, I picked a few tips and gained confidence in taking photos.Nothing great but I know my photos were getting better from the feedbacks I received from my friends.To date, three of my photos were requested to be used in the travel and educational industries.

On 18th March,2008 I bought Lumix TZ2 with a Leica Lens. To my surprise, my snapshots started to improve. Sadly, it was not due much to my skills but more because of my new camera! Anyway, it gave me the motivation to keep snapping around. From this point onwards, I kept using my Lumix more than my Canon DSLR. It scared me because the history may repeat itself. It was again my mistake for not using more my DSLR. A few months ago, my photography sifu and friend Nazley noticed a black thing stuck at my Canon's lens. It was due to my infrequent usage and improper care and maintenance on my part. The blame is all mine but as usual, I put the blame on camera-it is too big to lug around. That incident gave me the excuse to buy a smartphone Nokia N8 with a good camera when my Nokia E71 went kaput in Oct 2010.

For the last 12 months, I was busy snapping with my Nokia N8 and some f the shots were very good-good enough for novices like me. I really enjoyed to have the ability to snap what I see as interesting any where,any time without carrying my DSLR or compact point and shoot cameras.

Fast forward to now...

Two months ago, I took pity on my son who was using a semi-broken camera. So I offered him my TZ2 and luckily he accepted it. It gave me another good excuse to buy a new Lumix LX5 on 19th July 2011.Why?It is very good for night photography since I started cycling at night at Putrajaya.Why LX5?It is because my good friend Rahmat Hussain,a very good photographer uses it! Please don't ask me any technical questions on camera because I don't know.My only interest is to capture the best shot I could with whatever I have on my hands.

Now,I have enough cameras to play around. Over the years, I have learned a few lessons to take care of my cameras and now I need more time to go shooting...See you at my Flickr account:-)

Last but not least, to my friends whose DSLRs are  still hibernating in their cupboards,kindly check them and join me snapping around whenever you can...