Saying Goodbye to My First Camera

2024-02-27T00:00:00.000Z

Last week I said goodbye to my first camera. It was a Nikon D3300 and it's gone to a good home, not least because it's the home of a mate who paid 150 quid for it.

Here is a list of some memories I made with that camera since receiving it for Christmas in 2015 (whether I took a good photo at the time or not). Oops, as I wrote this it turned into a bit of a love letter to a particular evening in Iceland (the country, not the shop).

Memories of 2016

Start of the year

A New Year's walk.

A couple of photoshoots with my dad and a building site light.

Acting in a friend's school project and having an awkward romantic encounter (all encounters were awkward back then).

Berlin

The school trip to Berlin, resulting in a few good pictures and learning that photos of exhibits in museums and zoos are always terribly boring. It also featured a lot of photos of L, who I, incidentally, met on a night out for the first time in years, just last weekend.

Naples and Amalfi

Going to Naples in the summer and eating a very quickly-made (but wonderful) pizza at Sorbillo.

Walking through a valley of fragrant lemon groves in the heat on the Amalfi coast.

A kind man along the route offered us a few huge lemons he'd just picked. He seemed calm and happy in a simple, quiet and open way. Respite from the beating sun came in the form of fresh lemonade in a cool building where a donkey was leashed.

Versailles

Versailles, where my dad tried to boil water for tea using a gas camp stove by the water.

The canister sprung a leak and burst into flames. Both picnic blankets we used to try and put it out with were partially melted. The next option was running back and forth to the water with plastic mugs.

Gas leaks are no joke; the fire was only extinguished after dunking it in the water feature in front of the palace. Imagine the scene: an idyllic location on a peaceful day, in front of one of the most famous landmarks in France. After the fire had died in the water I looked up and noticed someone was filming us.

Memories of 2017

Walking with my dad

Walking up Pen y Fan on a warm, cloudless day with my dad in April.

Venice

Going to Venice in the summer and taking my first photo of a stranger that wasn't just of their back. There was a gorgeous pink light that frosted the clouds for what felt like hours that evening.

The school trip to Iceland in 2017

Visiting Iceland was awesome. A story from my favourite day has been stuck in my head since, and is as follows.

The coach pulled up at our bed and breakfast just as the sun was setting over a mainly flat landscape, featureless except for a few mountains. There was a gentle breeze but it was still warm enough in the sun to take off our coats in November.

Feeling the sun on my skin and seeing the sky painted with warmth, I felt so peaceful and carefree. Everyone who stepped off the coach seemed to have been moved by the same scene. Running out towards the sun, I took photos every few steps and felt the spongy moss beneath my feet compress at least an inch with every step. The ground was so inviting that I laid down in the moss for a few minutes. As the sun fell below the horizon, I kept my camera out, trying to hold onto the light.

Everyone had been told at a museum earlier that day that we probably wouldn't see the northern lights. Besides, the sun was enough of a treat upon our arrival that no one seemed to mind. But once the stars became visible, the darkness started to give way to shifting, green streaks. I didn't have a tripod with which to take a long exposure, but I stayed out for hours with C taking photos of the night, propping my elbows against a rock to keep the camera stable for 20 seconds at a time.

Memories of 2018

The summer

Street photography and sunsets in Fethiye, Turkey. We kept going back to an exceedingly welcoming man's kebab shop, where the kebabs were packed with flavour and served with pickled green chillis.

A trip to London for my 18th birthday. Thanks A! I was very nervous using my ID to order a drink for the first time at the Queen of Hoxton. The rooftop bar had a theme, "Lost Vegas".

The treehouse in La Vallée Des Singes and morning runs in Pommiers. I can't find many pictures from then (they're probably still RAW-only) but I know I took a photo of a donkey with a huge penis. I also had a painful encounter with a wasp from an infested plum, resulting in a red bulb on my knee.

Berlin, seeing Ben Howard live at Lollapalooza at the olympic stadium. Not sure whether I used my Nikon here, but I definitely took a photo with a polaroid. The polaroid has since been passed onto a friend; I couldn't be bothered with spending £17 for every 8 bad quality, blue-flamey photos.

Memories of 2019

Aside from a few flat parties at university, I didn't take any photos with my Nikon around this time, or many photos in general. I bought a Fujifilm XF10 in late 2019 and started using that occasionally.

Memories of 2020

Photographing my sister's wedding in 2020. I cried when I saw her walking down the aisle and couldn't comfortably stop for the entire service.

I've been very lucky

I'm a very forgetful person but looking through these photos has brought back a lot of dormant memories. There's more outside the frame than in it, for me.

It's also shown me how much I've changed!

Flicking through them, I have seen a lot more than what I saw through the viewfinder back then. Even if I were trying desperately to capture an emotion, the photo might've been rubbish! But sometimes, the most unpromising shot turns out well, showing me something I'd never noticed before.

Gosh, I hope the camera I sent I actually works.