Before deciding a few years ago that Living History might be an enjoyable way to make a living, photography was all I ever wanted to do.

I studied every book and magazine I could find on the subject. I went to night school, took exams, joined clubs and eventually I even studied full time to learn more about it.

What I actually learned in all that time is that the most important thing about photography, is not the equipment or the techniques, but where you point the camera.

I like pointing it at the ground or the sky, if there is some water or old ruins about I’ll point it at those too. Landscape photography is as good an excuse as I can think of to get up at four o’clock in the morning.

Recently I bought a small digital camera to supply pictures for this website. After years of saying digital was never going to be a serious contender, I have finally had my eyes opened.

Ok. it’s fair to say digital still has a way to go in the quality stakes, but for creative possibilities it’s already hard to beat. I guess the quality issue will resolve itself in the next few years too.

These pages will not include any of my “wet” film photography, you can see that in other places. Instead I intend to chart my progress with the new technology. At the moment I would place myself somewhere near the bottom of the digital learning curve so I hope these pages will show what is possible even from an early stage.

Gary Waidson.