My photographic timeline

Late in 2023 I bought a used D5100 as a replacement for my existing body, which stopped working. The mirror sometimes stick, and won't return fully. I bought it used and go a couple of kit lenses along with it: a 18-55 mm and a 55-200 mm.
I also bought a new phone - a Google Pixel 7 - which has a surprisingly good camera, and I bought a small drone, the Hover X1, which is more like a flying selfie camera than a drone. A lot of fun!
I shot the lowest number of pictures that I have shot in many years, not even rounding 1,000 shots!

Another slow year. About 3,000 images during the year, which is OK but far from my peak. We don't travel much abroad, but spend our vacations in Denmark, so no exotic destinations in the portfolio.

I didn't travel in 2019, and a far majority of my images were shot in and around our new home. I didn't buy much gear either, but a friend generously gave me a Nikon SB-21 macro flash in perfect working condition, and it does a great job on all my macros - 40mm, 85mm and the old 55mm.

Looking back at 2017 I realize that I didn't buy any photographic equipment of any significance this year! That's rare and very unlike me.

The year has started out fairly slowly, and I have shot mainly with my Fuji X100. Well into February there are no major acquisitions yet, but I do have my eyes glued on the Nikon 20mm f/1.8 as well as Sigma's 24mm f/1.4, which would both look very good on my D700.

It's now close to August and I still haven't acquired anything significant. It's almost a strange feeling, but might also be a sign that I have most of what I need and can satisfy most situations gear-wise.

I exchange to GoPro Hero 2 with a Hero 3 and let my oldest son inherit the "old" model.

I keep on buying lenses, and I'm as always on the lookout for used bargains. Early in the year I manage to buy a Nikon 45mm f/2.8 pancake and a Sigma 8-16mm wideangle zoom. Both used and both great lenses. And during the last months I get my hands on a used Nikon 50mm f/1.8 pancake as well as a brand spanking new Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8. Both these are also great lenses.

I give my old Sigma 90mm macro to a friend. It's been a great lens, but since I have three other macro lenses including the excellent Nikkor 85mm, I use the Sigma very little.

I buy my first GoPro Hero - a model 2. Fantastic little device!

I also stock up on bright primes, which has always been a passion. I buy both a Sigma 20mm f/1.8 and a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 as a supplement to my Sigma 50mm f/1.4. They are all very nice lenses.

After having drowned several Canon Powershots I caved in and bought a waterproof D10. Still with great image quality, but much less control than the old Powershots.

I also buy a couple of nice primes: The Sigma 50 mm f/1.4 and the Nikon 35mm f/1.8.

I acquire a couple of really nice lenses: the 17-55mm f/2.8 workhorse zoom and the fabulous 70-200mm f/2.8 VR.

I upgraded my second Canon Powershot A80 (which drowned...) to an 8 megapixel A630. Still featuring the great articulated LCD and really excellent image quality.

I skip Minolta and buy a Nikon D200. In 2013 the D200 body has shot just shy of 70,000 frames and is still ticking.

I bought the first of many Canon Powershots, an A80 with articulated LCD and 4 megapixels. A great little camera.

I buy a Nikon Coolpix 775 and can start shooting digital images of a reasonable quality

I get my hands on an Agfa ephoto 780. My first ever real experience with digital

I buy a Minolta 500si as a backup for the 7000i, which has some oddities due to a brief meeting with saltwater. The body is later stolen from my checked in luggage when returning from a trip to Belize.

Our second boy, Bjarke, is born. Double fun and double trouble, but also double the subjets to shoot. I buy a Minolta 7000i, which was a much better, slicker and faster camera than my 7000.

We have our first child, Magnus, which opens a whole new world of subjects to shoot. A few weeks after his birth I travel to Greenland, which is a very good place to study Arctic biology... and take pictures.

I buy a little gear when I find something useful and inexpensive - mostly used - and spend most of my money on film and development, drifting into color negatives and slides.

I buy a Minolta XG9 as a replacement for the XM, which breaks down with a shutter error.

My girlfriend and I start being part of the newly established carnival in Copenhagen, which also offers a lot of photo opportunities.

My B/W darkroom skills are quite good now, and I can get the results I want. I like gritty and contrasty and typically shoot at 400-1600 ISO on fast film and get a lot of grain. I also experiment with drawing on and cutting in the finished prints.

I start studying biology at the University of Copenhagen and shoot a lot of nature shots. Macro is my first real photo competence, and I crawl on hands and knees with flashes, reflectors and small pieces of wire to tame flowers and fungi.

I buy a cheap Sunpak flash to illuminate all the goodies.

I buy a Minolta 110 Zoom for my then girlfriend, now wife, Birgitte. This odd contraption is a fairly advanced zoom camera that shoots size 110 instamatic film in cassettes. We shoot Kodachrome and the slides are small to put it mildly.

I stock up on finders for my XM, and manage to get a hold of both a vertical finder and a low profile prism finder with no light meter.

I draw a lot in this period and my drawings move from banal kid's drawings to something a little more experimental and abstract. I'm sure my drawing has had a significant influence on my photography.

I also get more technical with my photography and start learning a lot about exposure, shutter speed, f-stops and ISO (or DIN/ASA as it's still called), and I buy a used Minolta Auto Meter to be able to measure light more precisely.

I develop my own film and print on a small enlarger in the bathroom of my childhood home.

I shoot some slide films that my father had with the camera and buy a few more - Kodachrome 64 is what I choose. But man! Even though the film price includes development, it's expensive for a 12-year old! But at least you can have the slides framed in cardboard frames when they are developed, saving some extra cost for slide frames.