It was while taking my dogs out that I noticed a robin had started to appear where I parked my car. So, I started to take a bit of bird food for him (I named him Max and he developed quite a following on FB)
Then, one incredible day, while I had the food in my hand, he flew over and landed there, happily devouring the suet pellets. He was probably only there for a few seconds but, to me, it felt like hours. I didn’t possess a camera, or even a mobile phone, but I knew I had to get one or the other … so I trawled Ebay and bought myself a camera.
By this time, Max was a regular visitor to my hand, even extending his duration. So, when the camera arrived, I was straight out there. But there was a problem … I had no idea how to operate a camera! My first images were just incomprehensible blobs of colour.

What was I doing wrong? In desperation, I posted the image to the Nikon Photo site and I was fortunate to have my image assessed by a professional photographer from the IoM. He took me under his wing, so to speak, and became my mentor, igniting a passion in me for this beautiful (and incredibly expensive) hobby.