Part 2: The Background
How many pictures have you taken in your life?
In the digital era I'd say easily in excess of 50,000 on my main cameras alone as a mostly hobbyist - not even including iPhone pics or film shots! I didn't shoot too many before that as film is expensive - easily less than 1,000. So a fair few, but a tiny amount compared to others. I did notice a slow-down a few years back when work got busy, so reclaiming my hobby is a priority of mine!
How old were you when you got your first camera?
Wow... So very first camera, I was maybe 7 or 8 - it was around 1987 or so. I inherited my parent's old 110 format camera - the long and thin one with the weird film that looked like a scroll and had an inbuilt shot counter that was never quite accurate. Now we didn't have much money growing up so I usually got a film around vacation time. I remember the excitement of the film being taken into the camera store, it taking A FULL WEEK for the fast service to turn the pictures around and the excitement opening the envelope to see every single one of my shots were so blurry they had a lab-issued quality control picture slapped on it. I upgraded to a 35mm point and shoot a couple years later, and got my first digital camera aged 24, in 2004.
I didn't keep many of my early pictures but some of my earliest (and, believe it or not, BEST) shots are below:
Overexposed surfers off the coast of Newquay, Cornwall (England) - 1988
(Copyright Master Chris Roach esq., aged 9 1/4)
Blurry Wall of Death performer, Tatton Park (England) 1987 ish.
Great framing Mr. Roach
Blackpool: Paris of Northern England, bleak wintry day (year unknown)
What kind of camera set-up do you use?
I shoot with an 11 year old Canon Rebel T3i that I bought as a Christmas present to myself when my daughter was 3 months old. It was that or a Nikon 3100, and, well, the Canon just felt better in my hands! I have 3 lenses - the 18-55mm kit lens, a 50mm portrait lens and a 55-250mm mid-range lens.
I'd love to upgrade but a "parent's disposable income" budget hasn't made space for it just yet. In fact, one of the reasons behind forming the site was to attempt monetizing my pictures to hopefully partially fund my hobby along the way.
What is your dream camera setup?
I think if I was upgrading I'd like to get a Canon EOS 5D Mark iv. I know the more common answer is the R5 mirrorless, but I'd personally prefer the 5D and spend what cash I would have spent upgrading to the R5 purchasing good glass to strap onto it! If money was no limit and I could acquire the lenses I wanted, R5. Definitely a Canon fan though.
What photography skill would you like to develop?
Oh there's so, so many - but if I had to pick one I'd love to get better at post-processing using Adobe Lightroom. I know my way round enough, but I'd love to be more adept.
Have you ever shot a picture during a historical event?
Sort of - in March 2004 myself and two friends went to Barcelona, Spain for a long weekend. While we were in the air the Madrid train bombings happened - and we had no idea. I remember being on the underground in Barcelona hearing some somber announcement, but not fully understanding it. When we got to our hotel room we put the TV on and were shocked. It certainly put a very different perspective on our weekend of "fun". Later that day we walked into a street protest. We actually heard it before we saw it - as seen below:
And the following night we attended a vigil for the deceased in Placa de Catalunya. Quite possibly the most sobering experience of my life:
