Busy weekend photographically. Phone boxes Saturday morning, then Elaine's Aurora choir in the Pavements in Chesterfield, then an afternoon going round the stalls on Chesterfield market. The society is working alongside Chesterfield Borough Council, photographing progress with the market redevelopment. My task last Saturday and yesterday was to go round as many of the market stalls as I could in the time, talking to the traders and taking pictures if they'd let me.

I suppose I talked to a dozen traders in the outside market yesterday. Every one of them was friendly, helpful and cooperative, and no-one declined to have their picture taken. The message I was getting, though, was one of uncertainty. They weren't sure what was happening. I got rumours varying from "it's all been cancelled" to "they're starting in January" and everything in between. With these sorts of projects, communication is everything, in both directions.

The society is thinking of trying to get a board up somewhere in the indoor section of the market, so that we can put some photos up. A number of traders asked what was happening to the photos we are taking, and this is one idea. We'll see. I might also just print some A5 ones off at Jessops and hand them out. That would be fun.

Finally, here's another phone box: this one's near Belper.

Looking back through the digital images that remain on my Mac, I see that the first image is dated 16 September 2002. I did have a digital camera before that (1999 I think), but it and the images are long gone. I remember paying about £250 for a 1 megapixel point and shoot around this time.

But my photography goes back a long way before, and I have my father to thank for that. He was an amateur photographer (nothing serious, he sent his films away to Boots), but I used to get the old camera when he bought a new one. I remember getting a Brownie 127 when I was about 9, and taking pictures of Blenheim Palace with it on a school trip.

This would have been in the late fifties. It's interesting to think that photography as a means of expression had been around only just over 100 years at that time. Here's a picture my dad took of me and a friend, age 9, being bossed around by my grandad on the beach at Weston Super Mare.

Thanks to Gary Clarke for a fascinating evening tonight on studio portraits and lighting. Interesting also to see Gary's influences, including the famous Edward Weston peppers. Steve Williams has agreed to do a short write-up for the Derbyshire Times Grass Roots section. This was the last meeting before Christmas. See you all again in the New Year.

My name is Geoff Hicks. I'm president of Chesterfield Photographic Society, and this is my blog. It is undergoing a severe case of conception, birth and development at the moment. Comments very welcome.