My experience has been nothing but positive. If I can’t help you, I will happily refer you to other photographers, and the same has happened for me. It’s a small country, so the community isn’t large.

That was a family competition to come up with a name. I thought Sandy Brinsdon wasn’t interesting enough! It stems from my photography needing to fit around my work. As some friends say—work gets in the way of my photography.

 I work part-time, and photography fills the other spaces. While I love landscape and wildlife photography, I’m not sure I’d get the same pleasure if I had the pressure of making it my full-time income.

Before getting my first Digital SLR, I just took photos and hoped for the best. Once I had to make the camera work for me, I started with a night class at our local school. That was perfect for learning the terminology and getting to grips with my camera.

Then it was just meeting people, getting out shooting, watching YouTube, and talking with others. I describe myself as a technical photographer—I know how to make my camera get the shot I want, but I had to learn the ‘eye’ of photography. Rules are great for that, and then you learn to break them—the rule of thirds was my friend for a long time (and still often is).