I have chosen to change my lifestyle to a rambling one. My definition of rambling is to go where the whim takes me and to enjoy the journey. When I started the ageing rambler blog two months ago, I was thinking about travel and the physical world. Now that I have begun, I realise that blogging itself is part of the journey. For me, rambling is also about learning and communicating my discoveries.
So, this post is the first of many articles in the category “My Blogging Journey”, starting with a little history.
I became interested in photography in my early teenage years. I had an old box brownie, probably acquired for pennies by my grandfather at an auction. I was fascinated by how such a simple mechanism could take a photograph. I even managed to get a film and get it processed. Surprising since it used a much larger negative than the 35mm that was standard in the seventies.
After a severe car accident in 1989, I used photography as part of my rehabilitation. I worked in black-and-white so that I could develop my own negatives and prints. I even invented some darkroom tools to make life easier. By 1990, black-and-white was very much a thing of the past, but I was enchanted by the merging of reproducing real life and creating art that is evident in the medium.
I also went back to scuba diving – and with it diving photography. Here you see my Nikonos V with 15mm, 35mm and 80mm lenses. I preferred the 15mm lens as it let me use natural light – what there is under the sea.
A few years later, I had decided to take a travel photo-journalism course, but the need to support a family deferred a change of career. It was just as well because 1995 was before the Internet or Blogging.
Now, 24 years later, I am 61. The changes in photography are fantastic, while those in communication could not have been imagined. I can immerse myself in my passion for photography and communication. In the fullness of time, I hope that it will give pleasure or learning to others.
I have plans – and here is the first one.
I think all of life is more about the journey than the destination, so I do wish you lots of fun and learning on your new frontier.
The tree is beautiful my ageing friend. So is the lady..