What is it about photography that has caught my imagination, captured a big chunk of my time and set me on a learning curve that never seems to end? Maybe the ability to see a picture, create it and keep it forever. Or the chance to freeze a moment in time, or turn a fleeting glimpse into a memory. Or maybe the opportunity to put the artistic part of my brain to work and see immediate results.

Photography is a journey for me; a never ending quest for images and a thirst to learn more. Whether it's a local landscape, a city street scene, a candid portrait or a studio still-life, there are always more images to be found and more knowledge to be learned about the best way to capture them.

I live in a beautiful part of Australia, in a region named Gippsland in the south eastern corner of Victoria. From my home, it's a short drive to the coast, the mountains, the rainforest or the city of Melbourne. I have an ever-changing abundance of scenery to photograph, right on my doorstep. If the weather isn't conducive to outdoor photography, I amuse myself with still-lifes, portraits or visits to museums and indoor attractions. Barely a weekend goes by without me picking up my camera and pointing it at something or someone. And each time I do, I learn more about photography.

My Gear.

One thing a photographer is always interested in is the gear another photographer uses. So here's my current line up:

Canon EOS 20D. A very recent purchase, bought immediately following the sale of my 300D. The 20D is a superb photographic tool. Fully featured, lightning fast and an absolute pleasure to use.

Canon EOS 10D. This was bought second hand at a bargain basement price and is now used by my husband. A large and comprehensive camera, especially when coupled with it's battery grip. This is an ideal back up camera for when I need to shoot with lenses of different focal lengths.

Canon 50mm f1.4 USM lens. If I only ever had to choose one lens to use for the rest of my life, I would choose this one. Simply superb. This is the lens that stays on my camera 75% of the time.

Canon 200mm f2.8 L lens. How does one describe an "L" lens? Luxurious! I purchased this lens after many weeks of research and guilt over the cost of it but I haven't regretted it. It's everything a professional quality lens should be....sharp, fast, contrasty and produces stunning photos.

Sigma 15mm f2.8 EX fisheye lens. My favourite lens for creative photography. Beautifully built, an absolute joy to use. The fisheye distortion adds amazing depth to landscapes and accentuates curves in close ups. It's also fantastic for large group shots, and it certainly adds impact to a picture.

Canon 24mm f2.8 lens. This one was bought for candid street photography and indoor lowlight pics such as in museums. Lovely sharp lens, very small size, very light weight. I wanted one I could carry around on my camera all day, this one has proved to be perfect; both in size and in focal length.

Canon 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 USM lens. I bought this with the 20D as I wanted a mid-range zoom to replace the 18-55 kit lens that was sold with the 300D. The ring-type USM makes for fast and silent focusing. The lens is a good carry-around size with a useful focal range and is proving to be a nice "one lens" solution for a variety of subjects.

Canon 35mm f2 lens. On August 8 2005, I got the surprise of my life when a parcel from the UK showed up, addressed to me, containing this lens. It had been sent by my friend iso3200 who had upgraded to an L series lens and thought I could make good use of this one. I could, and I most definitely am! This lens is small, bright, sharp and gives a normal field of view on a 1.6X crop camera. A treasure and a joy to own and use.

Tamron 1.4X SP Pro Teleconverter. Coupled with the 200mm L lens, this gives me extra telephoto range without losing auto focus or image quality.

Inca tripod. Nothing special but it's light to carry and quite sturdy to use. I am not a fan of tripods and would much rather hand hold the camera, but if I must use one, then this one will do just fine.

Manfrotto Digital ball head tripod. I bought this when I lost the QR plate for my Inca tripod, then ordered two more QR plates. I like this tripod because it's very light and the ball head makes framing a photo real easy.

Various cheap polarising filters in different sizes to match the lenses.

Hoya neutral density filters, 2x and 4x. A great tool for cutting down the light to enable slow shutter speeds for waterfalls, streams, rivers etc.

3x256mb and 2x1gb compact flash cards. The photos have to go on something...these are it.

Vosonic 20gb X-drive II. My portable storage, and it comes everywhere with me. I use it every time I go out with the camera and don't know what I would do without it.

Lowepro Nova 3 bag. This is the 3rd camera bag I have had and it's stuffed full! It's a neat and convenient shoulder bag with lots of extra pockets for filters and cleaning stuff.

Lowepro Nova 5 AW bag. We use this bag for storing the 10D, a number of lenses and filters in and leave it in the car on our journeys. When full, it's too big and bulky to carry comfortable but it's the perfect size to hold everything together in one neat package.