My first steps in photography

It seems odd creating a blogpost about my photography without posting any photos. But I haven't seen any yet. I borrowed an Olympus OM10 analogue camera from a friend on April 7. I have shot four rolls of film since that date:

• the first (a black and white film) is at our local photographic shop waiting for me to pick up the prints
• the second (a colour film) is with Boots the chemist
• the third is in the bin because I didn't rewind it properly and exposed it when I opened the back of the camera
• the fourth one is in the cupboard waiting to go the developers

In theory we learn through feedback loops - planning something, doing something, looking at the results and comparing them with what we planned. There is no feedback loop here. In practice this may be an advantage. I haven't had to look at any duff pictures to discourage me. Instead I can fondly imagine that all the shots will be delightful.

I can feel I have made some progress even without being able to see any output. I have taken 132 photographs in 17 days, and seem to be taking more and more each day. I've been getting used to the dials, to looking out for what might make a good shot, to thinking about how much exposure (light) the picture needs and whether to try and narrow the depth of field to throw less interesting parts of the picture out of focus.

Waiting is a fundamental part of the analogue world. Having to wait for the prints to come back from the developers reminds me of buying a vinyl LP when I am working away in Brussels, and knowing I won't be able to hear it until I get back home to the UK and can stick it on my turntable.

With the waiting lives hope and anticipation. I plan to get to Boots to pick up the films this Saturday April 30.