As our Queensland winter marches forward toward the warmth of spring, I'm reminded of how little hiking I've taken part in this year. In the two years prior, I made it a priority to dive into the car with a friend or two in the early hours of the morning on my way toward a mountain as the sun worked its way toward the horizon.

This year has been quite a departure from that ritual, making way for a creative affair with black and white film cameras, chemical developing processes and stacks of printed photographs. I've discovered a new facet of photographic exploration. My focus has shifted to urban landscapes, street scenes and the occasional portrait etched onto Kodak panchromatic Tri-X film.

And while I haven't ceased that avenue of work, the pull of the greens, blues and the oranges of hiking was always in the back of my mind. With social media and its influences, you can never truly switch off unless you log out for good.

In 2015, I created a group on Facebook called Weekend Adventure Hikers in an attempt to find others like me who not only enjoyed hiking, but preferred it as the sun rose, when the air is still, the tracks are deserted, and the nearby highways are quiet. To make sure I didn't allow this year to pass me by without a generous dose of nature, I started this up again to get back out there.

I've been craving colour photography for a little while now, having shot over fifty rolls of black and white film. When you shoot film, you are binding yourself to a creative choice. With digital, you start with all colours and go from there. So I've put down the film cameras with intention to shoot with more colour.

Also, I never wrote my planned Experiencing Japan article. I felt like I hadn't experienced enough of Japan yet, to be honest. Despite this, I want to include some of the colour photographs I made there in this first of my Colour series of photo blogs.

Without further ado...