First pictures

So, ahem, a little short while ago I splashed out and bought a Canon 550D. It's a bit of a renaissance for me as I'm finally getting back into my photography after so long with my trusty companion, the Canon EOS 500, an oldish film camera still buried in the depths of one of my drawers.

And whilst I took that camera around the world on an epic adventure and it stood the test of time, some 11 years in fact, it was time for an upgrade...

When digital SLR cameras first came out, I have to say that I was against it on the principle that it took away the magic of film cameras which clearly cut the good photographers from the bad.

But, slowly but surely I came around from my slumber. The world was changing and here I was using the same technology as my ancestors. The real turning point was when I witnessed (with extraordinary envy) my brother using his new Canon 40D. The results he achieved were special and he could take several pictures, selecting the best one. Digital was the new frontier and here I was stuck on film.

Then I realised that there was a fundamental flaw with film, and it was one that I had originally accepted, with the rigmarole of processing each and yes, every single image ever taken on my Canon EOS 500. That must be a fair few and as much as I would like to think all my photos were good images, most actually weren't. And it was a waste to print every one.

Happily, when justifying the price of my new camera and parting with my hard earned cash, I calculated that each film I used and developed cost me about £10. With an adventure holiday somewhere, I could imagine using 10 films over the trip and hey presto that comes to a cost of £100. As I believe I'll be on several such adventures over the coming years, I had £700 to reinvest.

And reinvest I did.