With the amount of film I was getting through increasing I decided to set up my own dark room so I could buy film in bulk and load my own film cannisters. I could also develop my own shots, giving me more control of what I developed, how I developed it and the eventual size of the prints.

After buying a Jessops developing unit, all the tools, containers and chemicals I needed I of course had to find somewhere to develop the images. Without a dedicated room to use, my only option was to work out a way to use the bathroom and as I was living in a rental I had to find a way to do this without damaging anything.

A few extension cables, some tape and blackout material sorted this and I was away. Starting carefully with black and white I quickly got to grips loading cannisters and then developing the shots so I moved over to colour and also started shooting slides.

One age old problem with film cameras was the time taken to load film and this was where I first realised the decision I took to buy the Canon EOS 10S was to be a long term one as I realised I needed another camera body to minimise these gaps (hoping I could get my wife to reload for me :-)). Now I had the EOS 10S I looked for another body and although the EOS10S was still available I decided to get a different model and chose the EOS 100 (EOS Elan in the US) for it's ultra quiet film transport. This camera came with the Canon 28-80 USM zoom lens and all of a sudden I realised the superiority of this lens over the others in my kit and it became my standard fit.

It was at this time that I also took the opportunity to upgrade a few of my accessories to include the new Benbo trecker tripod (which I still use today) and a Metz Mecablitz CT4 flash (which still works and is occasionally dragged out)

With the EOS 10 and EOS 100 in my bag I managed to go to a lot of places and take thousands of slides, I also found that I could benefit from having 1 with print and 1 with slides on certain occasions giving me the opportunity to choose the shot and the medium. This really became a benefit when I went on safari to Africa and spent 2 weeks travelling though Kenya. I ended up developing over 100 rolls of film from this trip and ended up with some stunning photos and slides

At one point I was in Las Vegas taking an absolute ton of photos when I decided to take a road trip to LA with some friends for a weekend. Yet more photo opportunities with trips to Universal Studios and Magic Mountain, although the highlight (debateable at the time as it was anything but fun) was the 6.7 earthquake at 4-30 in the morning. It was amazing to feel the raw power of mother nature whilst being damn scary at the same time. Legging it out of our hotel only a few Km's from the epicentre I managed to grab my camera bag with most of my gear, but didn't pick up everything and forgot the car keys. A while later, after the adrenaline had stopped two of us headed back in to the hotel to take a look and get the car keys. We got them OK, but I found my trusty EOS 10 destroyed under the TV and stand. Farewell friend! On returning from LA, I decided to claim on my ensurance for the camera and lens that were destroyed and ended up with an EOS 5 and Tamron 24 - 70 lens, a surprisong step up with the 5 being a semi-pro unit.

Eventually, digital cameras came on the market and I got to lay with one of these early on when I won a competition for a Kodak DC220 and whilst it was able to take reasonable pictures and was easier (and cheaper) to use for testing that a polaroid, it was not good enough quality to beat film, so I decided to wait. Still, it was fun taking pictures with it and quickly downloading them on to a computer so it did prove that if quality improved, digital cameras would be the way to go. I do still have this camera, but it still works, I still have a few old 512Mb Compact Flash cards for it and occasionally it gets brought out for the hell of it.

It was only when the Canon EOS1D came on the market that i thought digital had really come of age, but with the price, I couldn't justify buying one. However, when I left the RAF the EOS1D MkII had just come on the market and I decided I deserved a treat for completing my militarty service, so I bought one and have never looked back.

Since buying my 1D Mkii I have taken thousands of shots and become an even more avid photographer than before. The biggest problem was that I soon realised the weak link in my equipment was my old lenses, so in the last few years I added a 100-400 F4.5-5L IS Zoom, a 24-70 F2.8 zoom and a 100mm F2.8 IS Macro. I also added a 550EX speedlight to the mix. Now, I am just awaiting delivery of my brand new EOS 1D X.