Why? Such a good question and so hard to answer!

I don't know "why". I just enjoy it I guess. Thinking back though I can remember always being interested in my grandmothers "box brownie" style camera (wonder what happened to it?). I was also fasinated by my dads Minolta 35mm too, it wasnt an SLR but had an in built meter and manual controls for speed/aperture. But watching his slides bored me at the time...so back then it wasnt the pictures, more the gadgets themselves :). As I'm a bit of a gadget freak, perhaps it was the gadget geek part of me that first attracted me to cameras?

I've also always felt relatively creative - before I became an IT consultant I was a draughtsman (both pencil/pen and CAD). I also play the piano, have tried my hand at composing, played in a gigging band and used to paint minatures for figure gaming when I was younger. I've tried my hand at painting cartoon characters (mainly japanese), and have always dabbled with computer art packages - but truth be told, I'm not that good with a brush or drawing things from memory :D

I got my first SLR when I was about 15 I think. It was a Zenith from a mail order catalog. I remember always using it on holidays with the parents, playing with star and gradiated filters. IIRC I got some interesting results - wonder if any of those old pictures I took are in the loft - would be fun to see them again :)

Later I "upgraded" to a Minolta SLR with autofocus (wow! hi tech!) - and I used this up to about 1995 for holidays and outings. But still at this time my interest only extended to taking interesting pictures whilst being a tourist. Taking pictures as a hobby didnt interest me.

I then did nothing for 5 years :o - but in 2001 I decided it would be nice to have a digital camera to take on holidays as a 35mm SLR would be too bulky. And I found a kodak for 400 quid that came with a FULL copy of photoshop 6 (yes a 400 pound camera complete with a 400 pound art package!).

I enjoyed being a point and shooter for a few years, but around then my interest in the arty side of photography started to grow. I'm not sure why, but I think it could be because I'd stopped being a draughtsman at this time and I wasnt "creating" any thing arty in my new job. Coding is techincally creative, but I wouldnt call it an art (at least not in the traditional sense). So I upgraded in 2003 to a Sony 717 - and foolishly purchased a +4 close up filter.

Now as a kid I had a microscope. I remember I used to love using it to look at odd objects. Perhaps thats where my love of macros come from then, a childhood fasination with a microscope. Netherless I got some good results with that +4 lens - and I got some good landscapes too. I had found this site after trying out Bryce, which I found wasnt immediate enough for me, and I posted some of my images I got from the Sony, and your reaction and encouragement blew me away :) THANKS :) :)

Since then I've gotten more and more "into it", mostly due to encouragement from comments here and from family and friends. So now I've gone full circle, and have spent roughly 3000 quid on a Canon 20d, lenses and accessories (MUST remember to buy photography insurance!) - my latest lens, the Tamrom 180mm macro, arrived on Tuesday, and I'm itching to post some results with it (though I have 200 odd ebots to go comment on first - been rather busy recently :o ).

Again I'd like to stress that without the helpful and encouraging remarks from rosity members, I'm not sure I'd have got into it as much as I have. Sharing images with a community is addictive :)