I’ve always enjoyed photography — both as an artistic medium of expression (although please note that I don’t claim to be especially gifted as a photographer), and as a way to help me document and remember my experiences more fully.

Self-portrait of Tony Gill taken in New York in 2003 with Olympus OM-2.

The pictures in the Photography section of this website (COMING SOON) are from my personal collection, and are all © Tony Gill unless stated otherwise.

Equipment

Currently I shoot mostly with my iPhone 5S (the best camera is the one that you have with you when you need it!) and an Olympus PEN E-P1. I’m toying with the idea of upgrading to either an Olympus OM-D or a Nikon DSLR when I have some cash available.

As a kid, my first “proper” camera was a Russian-made Zenith EM single lens reflex — it was as heavy as a tank, but pretty much indestructible, and a great way to learn the basics concepts of photography, such as shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, focal length etc.

Self-portrait of Tony Gill taken with Zenith EM SLR camera, 5 May 1980

However, although I appreciated the Zenith, the camera that I really wanted was the sleek, lightweight, Olympus OM-2N, with its cutting-edge (at the time) through-the-lens light metering system, fully-integrated flash system and choice between semi-automatic aperture priority or fully manual shooting.

For my 18th birthday, I got considerably closer to this goal when my parents gave me an Olympus OM-10 with the standard 50mm f1.8 lens. The OM-10 was the “consumer” model in the Olympus OM range, and did not offer a fully manual shooting mode. I loved this camera, but unfortunately I lost it (I think in Brighton) sometime during the early nineties.

I finally picked up an Olympus OM-2N, the 35mm SLR camera of my childhood dreams, and a good selection of OM Zuiko lenses fairly cheaply off eBay in 2000 — just as digital cameras were beginning to change the face of photography forever. It’s a beautiful example of precision mechanical engineering, and I can use the old OM Zuiko lenses with my Olympus E-P1 with the appropriate adapter.

Olympus PEN E-P1 with ancient Olympus 75-150mm zoom lens