Image of Ian on the way!
I am Ian and I have looked after the club’s external competitions (against other clubs) for the past two seasons, as well as of course entering the Croxley competitions myself.
I started with an Ilford Sportsman 35mm camera back in the 1960s, then changed to a Zenith B, Practica LTL and then the big step to Canon with an FTb in the late 1970s, and I have used Canon ever since. Sports photography required a motordrive, so a Canon F1, T90 and A1 took their place, and I eventually succumbed to autofocus, using a pair of EOS1 cameras – which I still have and even use occasionally. I was a late and reluctant starter with digital, only getting a Canon 350D in maybe 2006. Medium format came along in the 1990s, using assorted Mamiya, Bronica and Fuji GX680 cameras. OK, digital is way easier and more convenient (and far cheaper to use!), but it still can’t reach the ultimate quality of a good 6×7! These days I mainly use a Canon R5, plus a Canon R that has been converted to shoot infrared; something a little different that I really enjoy – when the sun is out!
I have enjoyed entering competitions since I joined Potters Bar CC back in the early 1980s, and still do. I feel it gives a focus (so to speak) to my photography, and makes me try that little bit harder to produce an image that is a bit more than a simple snapshot. I still have my own darkroom for film photography, although I must admit it is not used as much as it used to be! I worked in a huge photo processing lab for 12 years, then for the photo chemical division of Fuji of 21 years – which might explain my interest in film, and it has never gone away.