Hi there, I'm Haydn from Sheffield, photography is just a hobby for me, had a Cosina SLR when I was about 10 years old, couldn't really afford the film at the time, so lost the habit at an early age, got my first digital camera in 2001, a Fijifilm 2mp without any form of zoom, worked up the range over the years until I bought a Canon 450D in the summer of 2008, with a 18-55mm IS kit lens and a 70-300mm zoom.
At first, whilst enjoying the improved results, I tended to stick with the automatic settings, until last year when I started becoming very frustrated at the poor results I bought "understanding exposure" by Bryan Peterson, which opened my eyes again to the techniques I learnt as a child, I've since improved my kit lens to an great 15-85mm, bought a set of filters (ND, GND, CP & 10x ND) and recently an f1.4 50mm. Starting to really enjoy taking photos again, especially the more technically challenging photos with filters.
Plan on extending my lens collection in the future, sticking with my 450D for now as it's doing me proud, but may well upgrade up the range in a few years, maybe even add a full frame as a second body - I don't see me walking around as a tourist with a 5D as my main camera, as it's far too heavy for regular use !
Career wise, I'm a very fed up Traffic Engineer, I've seen the good times, been involved in building motorways, tram systems, helped manage local and regional networks, earmed the big bucks, but with the recent government cuts, I'm faced with shrinking budgets, bigger demands and more frustration in not being able to deliver what the nation needs. I had a notion that photography might be a way out a year back, I'm quite sure it's just a hobby for me now though ;-)