How I Found Photography

When deciding what my first blog post would be I couldn’t begin without sharing my story on how I found photography, or rather it found me. You see my story is not that of someone who had been exposed to the world of photography from a young age, but rather a series of moments. These moments would domino to the point I am at today.

In order to write this I need to retrace my steps much like when you forget something. Going back about 5 years ago I began to travel more, soon I became hooked, to the point where any money I did make would be spent on the next adventure. The extent of my photos at that point was me on my travels taking the most generic tourist photos you have seen in front of infamous landmarks such as the Brandenburg gate in Berlin and Strokkur in Iceland.

Now I know what you’re thinking, how does this relate to a passion in photography, loads of people like to travel? But remember I did say it was a domino effect and however insignificant it may seem now it will add up.

My love of travel was so much so that in 2019 I decided to take it a step further, by leaving my job for Australia on what’s known as a working holiday visa. But, before I went I needed a new phone. Today a phone has become so much more than just its name sake. For me it was important that my next phone would take much better photos than my last. Not because I knew anything about what makes a good photo, but because when I would be making memories I wanted to capture these in best quality I could.

My experiences in Australia only strengthened my love of travel. Early on in my travels I became friends with Daniel. He was from Germany and had similar plans as to what he wanted from his experiences here. It only made sense to pool our money together to get a car and go where we wanted to go. Also, Daniel was a sports journalist and someone who was into videography. Often he would be taking short videos and he actually edited some of these together specifically of our time working on a farm. From the money we made there he bought a drone and I invested in a GoPro for any water activities we did such as scuba diving in the reef (by the way Daniel if you are reading this I am still waiting to see the drone footage!)

I continued to use my phone as well, taking snapshots. Only gradually these photos were no longer just of me, but also some of things that I was interested in. Unfortunately after 7 months in Australia COVID struck and I found myself back in the UK. Only this time without a job, without an aim and without a purpose. I had gone from being constantly on the move every few days to being in lockdown unable to leave the house. Admittedly I did struggle to come to terms with this as I am sure many did.

By the end of 2020 I had become really frustrated and trapped in my situation unable to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Briefly towards the end of the year the rules relaxed slightly and I wanted to use this opportunity to go somewhere, anywhere to feel free. Inspired by Daniel I too bought a drone and decided to drive the coast of my home country of Wales. With a limited plan and a limit on what I was allowed to do I set off for a week just me and my drone intent to capture what I could. These were mainly videos which I edited together.

Towards the end of my trip I remember getting to Castle Coch near Cardiff. I was taking some shots there and a boy came up to me asking questions about the Drone. He had a camera and was also taking shots of the castle. He asked if I had a camera or was into Photography. At the time I thought why would I need a camera when I had a drone. But even that little interaction was part of this snowball that I hadn’t realised was already in motion.

Some months passed and I continued to use opportunities to take my drone out. By the Summer of 2021 I wanted to take it further, thinking what the next step was. The most natural step seemed to be to get a camera. In truth at the time I didn’t fully appreciate what the camera,(Sony A6400) would be able to give me that my phone or my drone would not be able to already give me. In fact having only the kit lens with my camera and shooting in automatic I found it complicated and was not getting the shots I had hoped.

It took another few months to revisit the camera having watched some videos on how I should be shooting in manual and a lot of trial and error took place. I got another lens which I hoped would give me another perspective. I chose the Tamron 17-70mm as I thought this would give me more flexibility. Luckily I was right and this changed things completely for me.

As COVID restrictions became less and less I was once again allowed to travel. Only this time I had my new hobbies in my drone and camera that I was coming to grips with. Although I look back on some of these photos and see what I could have done differently now, they were part of my learning which is still happening.

Over this last year my Hobby became more of an obsession. I am constantly inspired by others, working out how they achieve their images and putting the techniques into my own work. If you take a look at my instagram you can see the journey that I talk about visually and hopefully you can see some progression I have made and continue to make. In the future I hope to look back on my current photos and see what I would have done different just as I do now from a year ago.

I am sure the dominoes are still falling and who knows where they will take me.

How I Found Photography

Dion Bromage