I must have been about ten when my parents gave me a little camera to try, loaded with a black & white 12 exposure film. They showed me how to use it and I went into the garden to try it out, but having taken seven or eight snaps of anything I could find I suddenly remembered I’d been told to turn the dial to move the film ready for the next photo. Realising my error I quickly turned the dial to make up for the shots I had taken then went on to finish the film. When eventually we all looked at the photos my parents couldn’t understand why most of the film was blank and one shot was unrecognisable … but I did! Maybe it was that first experience which ignited my interest in photography, or perhaps it was simply my parents giving me an opportunity to have a go at such an early age, but from then on I wanted to take pictures. The camera they gave me was a box camera with two lenses - one for the viewfinder and one for the film - and you looked down into a window on the top. A few years later, when I was at secondary school, I was lucky enough to be given my first proper film camera when a friend of my mother was buying a new one. It was a Halina 35X camera and it had a case, a separate light meter and a flash gun you could attach which used blue coloured bulbs. I felt I was so posh but learned a huge amount by using that setup. My first digital camera was the 3.1Mpixel Canon EOS D30 though now I use a 45Mpixel full-frame Canon EOS R5 mirror-less camera and am not sure I would want to go back to a DSLR. I absolutely love this camera and already I’ve had great adventures with it. How times have changed since I used that box camera in the garden as a child. I am a landscape photographer by choice, whether that is daytime or at night and I am so much enjoying doing landscape astrophotography with my friends from WPS. It is the challenge of working in the dark, I think, or maybe it is just being out under the stars. Though I’ve mentioned the camera I use, photography is not about the brand you use because you can get great results using any of the modern cameras. The important thing is to concentrate on the type of photography that inspires you and that you strive to become better and better at what you create. Here are a few things I believe have had a massive impact on changing my images from straightforward snaps to photographs I can be proud of: • Joining a photographic group like WPS: you may not like what the judges say about your work but on the whole you learn a lot about what makes a good photograph. You get comments from fellow members too and see a range of work and some inspires you. You also make new friends which has been great. • Using a full-frame sensor camera: you don’t need one of these to get stunning photographs, though they do make a difference to be sure, but for me it was a game changer. When I strained to purchase a Canon 5D Mk II I think the expense of doing that somehow jolted me to thinking I’d better try harder or else that’s a whole load of money down the drain. Sounds silly, but I do wonder if that was the psychology involved. Who knows! • Using YouTube to learn more: I discovered photographers such as Thomas Heaton, Nigel Danson and Alyn Wallace and they have been a huge inspiration to me, changing the way I think about and use my camera and the photographs I capture. I subscribe to their channels and also to those of one or two other landscape photographers. There’s undoubtedly also a channel for your photographic interests, so get searching. The best thing to do of course is to get out there and do whatever type of photography inspires you. Remember though, that whatever you do or however you do it, have fun!

Photographs on this page are Copyright © Rob Cowell

Disko Bay at Midnight

Talacre Lighthouse

Sunset at Nipstone Rock

Heading Home

Vestrahorn at Midnight

Stiperstones Eruption

Kirkufell

Ait Benhaddou, Morocco

Jokulsarlon Aurora

Forever Watching