Initially, my more recent interest in photography commenced in 2017 when retirement was imminent and I realised that I needed to have other interests other than golf and domestic interests like mowing lawns and caring for gardens!  

At the time my wife, Julie, and I were selling real estate in Gladstone.  We used a professional photographer to take photos of houses we were marketing for clients.  Julie consulted him and asked for his advice on recommending a good entry-level camera knowing my interest in photography.  His advice was to purchase a recently released (at the time) Fuji XT20 which Julie did and presented it to me for a Christmas present in 2017.

This proved good advice.  Despite the retro look, the camera was a new style mirrorless camera with lots of advanced bells and whistles.  There are, of course, plenty of other good entry-level cameras.  But the Fuji worked well for me at the time.

Later I purchased an XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8  telephoto lens when we were in San Francisco in April 2018.

Julie and I traveled quite a bit in 2018/2019 visiting Ireland, Turkey, Ecuador, Galapagos Island &  Los Carbos Mexico.  This gave me plenty of opportunities to practice photography.  Well, Covid 19 put an end to overseas travel from early 2020.

By this time I was retired and living in Peregian Springs on the Sunshine Coast and fortunate enough to be living on the Peregian Golf Course.  My interest in photography was growing and I realised that I needed to fine-tune my photography skills by taking images of moving objects.  Living on the golf course presented me with plenty of opportunities to do this by taking images of birds.

As I progressed I discovered that there were over 55 species of birds that live or visit the golf course.  As a project to incentivise my interest in photography, I approached the management of the golf course to see if they would be interested in me supplying (and paying for) a framed poster of all the birds on the golf course.  They agreed so that put me under the pump to complete the project.

Within 3 months I had completed a framed poster of 45 species of birds which was presented to the golf club and hung on the wall of the golf clubhouse. 

I had my son, Josh design a logo for me and included that on the poster so as to promote my work.

My first commission, – all be it a non-paid, self-appointed commission.

We started to do some travel within Australia in late 2020 when restrictions permitted.  A visit to O’Reilley’s Rainforest Retreat in Lamington National Park fostered a blooming interest in bird photography.

In addition, I purchased some ND filters, a folding wallet to keep them safe and protected, lens cleaning equipment, tripod, spare batteries, and spare SD cards, all in a backpack along with a bandage in case I got bitten by a snake while walking through the Australian bush.

I must have read the Fuji Camera Manual cover to cover several times.  But by far the most inspiring and informative education I got was by watching YouTube videos on photographic technics.  In particular, I found videos produced by Duade Paton, Jan Wegener, and Glenn Bartley extremely informative and practical.  Purchasing JanWegner’s Masterclass improved my processing skills in Lightroom and Photoshop tremendously. Combining these videos with going out into the field as much as I could, helped me learn the art.  Nothing counts more than being out there doing it.