Passion and realisation

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.

Maya Angelou

How fitting to start my first blog with a quote that very much describes my feeling and my moral standpoint on life. I have spent many years in a retail environment as a manager cashing up till’s, selling products to other people and trying to help people. This is something that i have enjoyed very much, but working in retail for a big business always feels like you are surviving and i am not about surviving, after 30 wonderful years of life i want to begin the section of my life where I can begin to thrive and I hope to achieve this by furthering my knowledge of photography and start laying the foundations to return to studies at a ripe old age of 31. After 13 years in retail I have worked my way up the chain and I consider myself a very good manager and a valuable member of any sales team. I have decided that I want to, and more importantly need to go into photography, I’m not sure what kind of route I would like to take but learning everything there is to know about photography is something that interests me very much, I have been doing photography as a hobby for many years since i was a child, I am primarily self taught but I remember being a greasy, spotty indecisive teen taking my options at school for what a-levels I really wanted to do and was always a very creative child and annoying family members by being in there face with a camera so I chose photography and fine art along side English language and design technology, so the creative choices were a good shout for me. I pretty much ignored my design a level as the teacher was a bit of a douche (let’s be honest we all had one of those teachers ) but I found myself spending more and more time in the magical land of the art department. I would go in early and spend hours in the dark room before any kids were in so I didn’t have any year 7’s messing up my dark environment.

My first SLR was a Pentax ME super which I remember going to Jessops in coventry majorly excited having been given money from my parents for my 16th birthday I walked in and handed over my hard earned birthday money and got home just in awe of what I had . It wasn’t just a camera it was a Chanel for my creativity and was a way for me to capture moments (and obviously pass my a level) I love that camera and still use it to this day.

PJP