As I was growing up my parents never had a camera. They saw no need for one and besides cameras were expensive. Suddenly, somehow at some stage, I remember a box brownie. I don't know who got. It was just there. But photos had to be snapped (only on special occasions) until the roll of film was filled; taking months or even longer. Then the roll was removed from the camera, placed in the provided packaging and taken to the local chemist (or later - Camera House) for processing. A week or two thereafter we collected the envelope containing the printed photos (initially black and white); not remembering what photos had been taken and not knowing whether they would be blurred, ghosted white or even legible. I can understand mum-n-dad not taking a lot of photos; too many failures. In time I got my own camera only to soon realise it was an expensive hobby. I gave it away.

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As pay-days passed and my bank balance improved, I experimented with 35mm transparencies (a box containing thousands of memories is still tucked away in a cupboard waiting for that time-in-retirement when I will have a surplus of time in which to transfer the captured images to my PC), then a Sony 8mm video camera and finally a quality Pentax (still with negatives and paper prints). Developments saw me at a later stage progress through a series of digital cameras; each getting more and more elaborate. I became an enthusiastic amateur photographer.

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However, it wasn't until my sixties that I was introduced to the mind-blowing world of photo-editing. It was after joining a U3A photographers group that I underwent a personal paradigm shift in thinking; the concept of post-photography editing changed everything. Thus I entered the world of creative photography where images could not only be improved and modified but creatively changed... Magic!

As I progressed though the LightSeekers (a Geelong Camera club special-interest group), I was introduced to real 'creatives'; thus coming to realise the potential of digital photography. I finally developed the confidence to leave the group and focus more on my own interests; writing /creating / self-publishing / web-site development. My next leap occurred as I moved into smart-phone photography; particularly when, at one LightSeekers session, I threw  out the challenge  - separate the DSLR and iPhone  photos. A task that could not be done consistently - even by these knowledgeable enthusiasts.