Did you ever think about doing something which was totally out of your reach. Like be a ballerina, show-jumper, arctic explorer?

Most of us can think of something we’ve always thought about doing but never pursued. Sometimes for reasons we can’t control, sometimes those old Self – inflicted limitations. But often things change and an opportunity comes around again.

Well when I was younger I always fancied taking up photography.

Over the years I’ve had a few compact cameras but I wanted to understand how to take a picture myself.

This was long before the digital revolution. Printing costs were prohibitive. Darkrooms were needed. What with chemical baths, special film for different effects, varying processing times – in short a whole world of expensive complication.

So I put the idea away and forgot about it.

The closest I ever came to the intricacies of film processing was when I worked at a local college many years ago. One of my colleagues used to help in the dark room processing mainly black and white film. Colour printing and processing was a specialised business and best done by busy photo labs.

Yes – Photography was an expensive hobby back then just from the point of view of processing costs alone never mind the camera and lenses.

Over the years I didn’t give it a great deal of thought but then the idea popped back into my mind roughly when I started the website. So I took the plunge and bought a second hand DSLR Canon 20D body from Ebay. I can hear the screams now – but I took my time and eventually bought from a private seller who turned out to be a photographer trading up to a newer model.

So far progress has been slow as with most things I do, I’ve bought two lenses and I’m trying to get to grips with aperture, shutter speed and exposure but I’m having fun with it. I’ve enrolled on a online Photo Course and also onto a fantastic, short summer course on Digital Photography at University of South West Scotland in Dumfries which lasts 12 weeks. I can recommend this to anyone in the area.

Last Tuesday night we drove down to the shore near Glencaple. It was a bit overcast and the light was starting to go. There were some quite dramatic cloud formations which I tried to capture.

Hope you like them.

View across estuary at Glencaple

View of Criffel

Trying to catch the cloud formations - Glencaple

If you enjoy snapping photos, have a competitive streak and love beautiful surroundings then take your camera with you next time you go for a peaceful wander around the Crichton grounds near Dumfries. The Scottish Agricultural College annual photo competition is underway.
Categories are

• Crichton wildlife
• Crichton buildings
• SAC in Action
• Farming in Dumfries and Galloway

Check out the details on the SAC website.