Announcing... Photo Friday!

An old favourite photo: I love capturing new angles of classic sights

I love photography.

I grew up with it, watching my dad create a career out of doing something he loved. He worked from home and even built a darkroom in the backyard and I loved spending time with him out there, watching a blank piece of paper turn into a beautiful picture. It seemed like magic. Then I'd watch as he sat in the lounge room with a magnifier, carefully retouching slight imperfections with the tiniest paint brush I'd ever seen.

I loved sneaking in when he met with customers or peeking around the corner during a photo shoot. I loved playing with all his cameras and lights. I even enjoyed the posing he made us all do as he tinkered with lighting and backgrounds, mainly so that I could then go to the darkroom and watch him work that magic with the film.

I felt so important when he'd ask me to come along to a wedding and help with the cameras. Knowing that what we were doing was creating a lasting memory of someone's special day was pretty special.

I used to dream of being a photographer myself. Even recently I toyed with the idea, until I realised I enjoy it as a hobby rather than a job.

These days, of course, photography is somewhat different. Digital technology has taken over the world of cameras and made things simpler, but taken away some of that magic. Retouching photos on the computer seems almost too easy when compared with how it used to be done. A few clicks here, undo that, crop it here, brush that out, and a brilliant photo can appear. I still love it, though.

In the last few months, my photography has taken a backseat - and not just in a car, but a busload full of things to do. Yep, it's the 'backseat baddy' of all the demands on my time.

So, I figured there's one way to get myself out taking photos again, and that's to set a blogging challenge... Photo Friday!

Each Friday, I'm going to post a photo - either something from my week or an oldie that I love or have been playing with in my photo editing program (I use 'Aperture' on my Mac - not a plug, just letting you know in case you're wondering). I'll do my best to explain any retouching or other notes. Hopefully this will help me experiment with my camera more again and pick up some new skills along the way. (Disclaimer: I said I enjoy it, not that I'm brilliant!)

And if you'd like to join in - leave a link in the comments for me and I'll come and check out your photo. If there are a few people who'd like to do it, I'll work out how to set up a special linky tool.

See you tomorrow for our first Photo Friday!

I used to have little photo shoots with Abbey - this will be a great excuse to do it again...

Megan