Left wanting...

You know when you're perfectly happy driving around in your old car and then you get to drive something newer with electric this and adjustable that? This weekend I experienced similar and it's left me wanting. I was perfectly happy with my fancy phone camera until this week. At 8.5 megapixels it's sharp and clear, it's with me wherever I go and even before the upgrade, it's always seemed sufficient for my blogging needs.

However that was before. This weekend I was spoilt when I borrowed a DSLR, had a five minute tour of it and attended a one day wildlife photography workshop with Andrew Kelly. All of a sudden my phone camera doesn't seem quite good enough.

As a complete beginner to digital photography I have a tremendous amount to learn, and I want to learn. I soaked up every bit of information shared with us, took the opportunity to ask lots of (probably very dumb) questions and headed out in the garden as soon as I arrived home determined to capture every butterfly, bee or insect I could find. I wanted to put my new found knowledge into practice.

But just like the bees on this sedum, my new hobby is fleeting, I'll only have the camera for a few more days and I'm not in a position to pop down the shops and buy one of my own. Perhaps next year, but certainly not this.

So for now I'll have to commit everything I've learnt to memory and hope it comes back to me next time I have the opportunity to use a lovely camera that I can manually operate.

I've found it interesting to see just how quickly my views on photography changed. From appreciating the clarity and colour to enjoying the challenge of learning the more technical aspects of the equipment. Then there's the thrill when you view a shot on the screen you're happy with and the anticipation of seeing it later on the computer screen (how on earth did photographers wait six weeks for their films to arrive back years ago??).

Lastly there's the sheer wonderment of getting so closeup and personal with the wildlife you're observing. I can now fully understand why people are so interested in this subject, there's more to it than meets the eye....

Do you have a hobby that you fell in love with as soon as you started it?