Merindol Hall Pty Ltd was established in 2000 and provided management advisory services to the water industry up until early 2012. But behind all that was a continuing journey in photography and digital art. I am now very much focussed on that journey and hope to be able to share it with you through this site and also art.merindolhall.com. Some of my digital art and photographic work is also on the Merindol Hall website.

My journey in photography has probably been just like anybody else, starting with a Kodak Instamatic. I then purchased a secondhand Canon Demi half frame camera, shooting mostly in B&W because colour was too expensive. I graduated to a secondhand Pentax Spotmatic F, with semi-auto exposure and manual focussing, and the world of SLR opened up to me. Didn’t make me a better photographer, but gave me more opportunities to make better images. Demanded more of me. Set a higher standard.

From the beginning I tried to find the different angle, the obscure perspective and (later) that special mix of colour and shape. Opportunities to be creative were somewhat limited by the cost to develop and print commercially – around $1 per shutter press in the 1990s.

Then along came digital compact cameras and the freedom to take picture after picture after “not another one, dear, surely!” Fun, and a lot, lot cheaper! But sooner or later I had to get back to an SLR and I was eventually able to afford (or perhaps rationalise, justify, beg…) a Canon 7D and some nice glass to go with it. The bar was raised again. Welcome to the world of sharp – at least to the continuing quest to achieve it! Hasn’t made me a better photographer in itself, but I would like to think that the images are getting better.

Slight sideways step to a Leica D-LUX 6 as my street camera. Yeah, yeah, I know, it is not a true Leica, but it is a delight to have and to hold. And very handy to have in my backpack when I’m wandering around the place. One day, maybe, a Leica M9. Leica dreaming… Also want to get into full frame with a 5D or even a 1Dx but rationalising and an understanding wife only goes so far.

And indeed, eventually I was able to get my hands on a Canon 5D MkIII and then a Leica Q. Ahhh, the simple pleasures…

The photos below are something of watershed moments for me, defining and developing my style. I don’t favour any particular genre but rather seek out an image which looks good, maybe tells a story and is deserving of more than a passing glance. Few of these pics would meet my technical standards today, but I wouldn’t mind having another go with better equipment. They do show me, at least, how I have always looked for that different image.

And at the time each of these was my favourite, even if the people at Australian Photography Magazine didn’t think much of my only ever submissions in 1982. Their assessments, however, made me a better photographer…