Life often gives us itches that need scratching, usually when we’re too busy to pay them enough attention. My biggest lifelong itch has been photography, an interest that had to be satisfied for many years with a steady parade of cheap cameras taking snapshots whenever I could find time.
That changed in May 2007 with the opportunity of spending a few weeks in Africa, much of it in Botswana. Naturally I had to have a half decent camera and so an early DLSR entered my life. It was the Pentax *ist DL which boasted all of 6 megapixels on an APS-C sensor. As well as the kit lens that came with it, I splashed out on a Pentax 28-200 zoom. They were constant companions in Botswana in 2007, the South Island of New Zealand in 2008, and Argentina in 2009. After those trips, life (i.e. work), took over again and the camera disappeared into a bottom draw until 2019 when I retired and moved back to Australia after a decade living overseas.
Time to scratch the itch so armed with a much better Pentax DSLR (24 megapixels!), my “evolution” into a landscape/travel photographer began. It gave me a lot of pleasure (and sanity, during covid). It also led me to build this simple website – Accidental Postcards. But (with apologises to my landscaping friends), I found that mountains, trees, waterfalls, rocky headlands, sunsets and sweeping plains had a limited sameness to them. By 2024 boredom began to set in.
Then one day looking through those old 6-megapixel images from Botswana, it hit me. There is an endless and ever fascinating supply of wildlife out there in the wider world. The Pentax acquired a 150 – 400 zoom. It is a wonderful lens, but age does weary them (or in this case, me) and hauling it around put a strain on our relationship. After three months in the Northern Territory in 2024, the search began for a lighter alternative, and I discovered the OM system. Thanks to an understanding and indulgent partner, my go-to-gear is now an OM 1 Mark ii camera with a 100 – 400mm lens (full frame equivalent 200 – 800) and 40 – 150mm pro lens (ff equivalent 80 – 300) which is often coupled with a 1.4 extender.
I couldn’t be happier. The lighter weight, extensive (wildlife) shooting features, rugged weather-proof build, and excellent image quality has extended my photographic journey (now in my seventies). So welcome to Accidental Postcards. I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed building it around the images I’ve been fortunate enough to create.
Greg Hunting