Hello

Introduction
A big hello to the wide world out there. A little about me to start.

I come from Edinburgh. I am 44 and married with 2 children. Photography wise, my dad was always interested in photography and there were always camera in the house. I started out using a box brownie and made my way onto the world of the SLR with an old Russian Zenit. In the past year have finally taken big leap and replaced my film based 35mm Canon system with a digital setup.

I last studied with OCA back in 2005 when I was studying Photography 2 - Social Documentary. Had a little gap because of things at home so now getting back into swing with a level 1 course. Have always been interested in photography and have decided to take plunge and work towards my degree.

I started out with OCA as was unhappy with getting films back and not having results I had hoped for. So embarked on a a formal course to improve standard of my camera skills and learn how to see the image I want before I press the shutter. I am now at stage where this has changed round and I would expect to see certain results every time.

Had my Photography 1:Digital Photography Practice (bit of a mouthful - hate acronyms but is DPP just easier to say?) course for about 6 weeks now. So far have been enjoying course.

Have to admit have been away from any kind of studies for a few years now so finding the discipline of forcing myself to make time for home study a bit challenging to say the least. Now that I have got round to starting a blog am hoping this will be a little spur to me.

I do tend to take notes as I go, capturing thoughts about specific photographs or situations or techniques so sitting down at computer and wrapping some sense around my notes is a new thing.

Good couple of days, started an assignment in spring sunshine. Model setup, day planned, happy with poses and lighting and bam, broke my tripod. Sums up start of year for me. Despite this setback am feeling positive.

Equipment
Rather than me saying what equipment I have been using in every single blog thought would get that over and done with here. Some people not overly interested in what equipment you use and instead focus (excuse pun) on final image rather than on how you take picture, where from and what equipment you use. If you are one of these people just skip this next part.
Here goes anyway, my camera is a Canon EOS 5D. I have never used this for a course before as for last course I used 35mm SLR film camera. I have a couple of zoom lenses; a 24-105mm and 16-35mm. I also have a fisheye 15mm lens. Would like to have longer zoom, something like a 70-200mm but can't afford this yet.
Software wise I use Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom 2. I shoot my pictures in RAW as this gives me the most latitude to make any changes I need on the computer.