Photography
I have always enjoyed taking photos, even as child, I was bought an adventure set, which had things like a compass, binoculars and a camera (a very cheap point and shoot film camera) amongst other things, I would be taking photos of anything back then, until the film was used up, I don't think the film ever got developed (due to lack of funds and the possibility of the photos not being any good)! I would then play with the camera, minus the film (lack of funds again), and pretend to take photos.
Then in my teens, I had various cameras, like a 110 camera (the 110 camera is like a larger version of the spy cameras you would see in various films), I then got a Disc camera, which had a disc film instead of a roll of film.
The Adventure Kit including a camera
The 110 camera
The Disc camera, with the disc film
The above cameras were not very good, they were OK for holiday snaps, but that was about it! I had never given it much thought about getting a quality camera to take decent photos. Most of my time was spent doing other things, like fishing (I never caught anything worth taking photos of), or riding my bike. So I only needed a point and shoot camera for taking snaps on holidays or days out (which didn't happen that often).
My 1st delve into proper photography didn't happen until around 1988, when I was in the army, and I purchased a 35mm Dixons own brand camera (a Miranda MS-3 35mm film SLR, with a 28-70mm Macro Zoom lens), I was going to Cyprus as part of the UN peace keeping force, and I wanted a decent camera to take with me. I never really got to grips with this camera, there was no such thing as google or youtube to find tutorials on how to use it correctly, you had to read the manual (which was never my strong suit). So I only ever used it on it's easiest settings, the photos turned out OK in the most part, and did me well for the time I used it.
Dixons Miranda MS-3 with 28-70mm lens
In the mid 90's I got rid of the Miranda MS-3 (as I wasn't getting the best out of it), I had various cheap nondescript new fangled digital point and shoot cameras (these cameras were quite expensive for what they were when they came out), until I purchased a 2nd hand Fuji Finepix 6900 zoom bridge camera, this was to re-kindle my interest in photography, I took this camera on our expeditions to North Wales. I started to enjoy taking photos again, as this camera was quite easy to use.
Fujifilm Finepix 6900 zoom
The above camera was my go to camera until I saw the photos Andy was getting from his new Canon DSLR camera, so in 2015 I purchased my 1st DSLR, a Canon EOS 1100D with 2 lenses (18-55mm and 70-300mm zoom lens). I really started to enjoy taking photos again, I would take photos of anything I found interesting (animals, insects, flowers and landscapes). I started with the help of Andy, to learn new techniques like long exposures, and macro photography, and even some basic photos of stars. Taking photos of the moon soon became an interest to me.
Canon EOS 1100D
The 1100D was a great entry level camera, I added a 50mm lens to my kit along with various filters. In 2018, I decided to upgrade my camera, I traded in the 1100D along with the 18-55mm lens, and purchased a Canon EOS 800D with a better 18-55mm lens. I soon also purchased a massive Sigma 150-600mm lens with a x1.4 convertor. This lens would make taking photos of wild animals/birds and the moon a lot easier.
Canon EOS 800D
Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM C with a x1.4 Teleconverter
I am constantly learning new techniques, I know most of my photos are not perfect, but it still doesn't stop my enjoyment of taking them and seeing how they turn out, and with me using a digital camera, I do not have to pay to get the pictures developed to see how they turned out, or have to throw some of them away because they are out of focus or have other problems with them.