My journey

Hello and welcome to Hawke's Photo Journey.

My name is Kay Hawke and for as long as I can remember I have loved taking photos and everything to do with cameras. when I was little I went to a lot of flower and garden shows with my grandparents, my Grandad had a beautiful camera which I spent more time running around with than he did!

When I was around 7 or 8 years old my Nan bought me my first camera, a RICOH 10x, from that point on I was completely addicted and I don't think my Nan's bank ever liked me again! She had my films developed for me and made sure I got plenty of opportunity to get through them.
Nearly 20 years later I am still as enthused as ever. I have had several cameras since then (although I still own and use my RICOH) however my camera of choice for now is the NIKON D3200. before I got to that though I had to take a break, not by choice, but developing film got past the point I could afford for the amount of pictures I was taking, my Nan had just retired and a half decent digital cost more than I would see in a year so I dabbled in art for a bit gaining a diploma in art, design and media and then went off to work for a while.
At 22 I'd had my daughter and everyone had a camera on their phone! I loved photographing my daughter and remembered how much I loved photography, when taking her to get some professional photos done I remember just thinking, if I had a camera I could do this myself, I was at this point between jobs and looking for a path in life.
I went back to college to do an access to HE course in art and alongside that it just so happened I was able to do an AS level in photography. well about 3 weeks in I thought sod graphics (my original direction) I want to do photography at uni, so here I am 2 years later on the second year of a photography HND and loving every minute of it!
I am surprised and also very proud to have made it this far. Just before I started I split with my husband and was made homeless, after that I was homeless twice more and ended up homeless for more time than I was housed through the first year of uni.
I am now however back on my feet and more sure of my direction than ever
I have learnt more in the last 2 years than I ever thought there was to know, about photography, myself and the people around me, and still have so much left to learn.
My photography is improving day by day and I guess the point of this blog is to share that with whomever wants to see. It is my belief that if you have a passion for something than it never really goes away even if it is many years until you get to realise it again.
It took me several years and the kindness and faith of my grandparents (they also bought me my NIKON) to get back on track but now I'm here I'm determined to get through and follow my dreams.

I hope that anyone who sees my blog will enjoy what they find and also find the strength to follow their dreams even if the road is not clear.

After uni is finished I am hoping to start my own family portrait studio as well as starting a website to sell prints of nature views and flowers thus being able to follow both lines of photography that I love.

wish me luck!