Tower and Town, November 2024 (view the full edition)The Hobby That Keeps On GivingMy interest in photography started when I was at school where we had the use of cameras and a darkroom. I loved that moment in the darkroom when an image began appearing on the photographic paper! I was given an Olympus 0M-1 SLR camera and seriously considered the idea of studying photography on leaving school but ended up going in a different direction. Fast forward through many years of working and a busy family life only occasionally using a camera to record the children growing up, holidays and family occasions. In 2015 I was self-employed and had a bit more free time. I bought my first Canon DSLR camera and embraced the digital age! I attended an evening class at St John's School to learn how to use my camera in manual mode in order to control the creativity of my photographs. Living in the midst of the Wiltshire landscape in the Kennet Valley, it wasn't a difficult decision to embrace my surroundings and photograph them in all weathers while recording the changing seasons. Since retiring my photography has really taken over my life! I joined Devizes Photography Club and have travelled all over the country on landscape photography trips with fellow photographers, friends and on club trips. I am always keen for early morning outings to photograph the local landscape with either mist, fog, frost or snow with a colourful sky. We are so blessed with beautiful landscape locations within a short distance of Marlborough - the rolling downland, Neolithic barrows, the standing stones in Avebury and Stonehenge, areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty covered in wildflowers, butterflies and insects in spring and summer, ancient woodlands and forests, ancient hill forts as well as the meandering river Kennet. It's impossible not to be inspired as a photographer in this area! I return to local locations time and time again as the conditions are different every time I go. The success of landscape photography is all in the planning - I use a variety of apps for weather, conditions (frost, mist etc), cloud cover, sunrise/sunset times and tide tables for coastal photography. Photography is the hobby that keeps on giving, both mentally and physically. I'm always meeting new people on my trips, always learning new skills and always anticipating the 'perfect' shot. Until that happens let the adventures continue! 
Bridget Condrington |