I am from India and my first camera, Canon Powershot S60, came from my savings of first salary. Like most first-time buyers, I used it to click my travel experiences and friends. I switched to a DSLR Olympus E510, and that's when I really started to understand the nuances of aperture and shutter speed. It became more than my travel companion, but also a tool to experiment with techniques.
Over time, I also became disenchanted with travel photography. Everyone had the power of camera on their phones, tourist spots became crowded with people hounding for a click. I put away my camera for a while then and decided to experience the travel, rather capture it in stills. However, I picked up the hobby of birding and I continued to capture birds. The shots themselves were not technically great. But the experience of observing nature was.
I moved to Athlone, Ireland and joined the club, and with it explored more genres like studio portraiture or slow shutters, that I had never considered exploring before. I also acquired my new camera Fujifilm XT5, and fell in love with it. Fujifilm is tactile - all settings are available on manual dials rather than touchscreen, and now I always shoot in Manual mode.
When I started photography, I wanted to capture the moments as I see them. I hope someday, I can capture the experience as a whole in a frame.