As mentioned in my previous post, this year’s BarCampVancouver had a morning photowalk where we ventured out around this year’s venue to explore the area through a lens. There was probably twenty of us wandering around mostly empty, over grown property next to the rail yard near Main and Terminal.

Here’s a selection of my favorite shots that I took on the photowalk (all my photos from BarCampVancouver09 are here).

Peter has a good shot of me taking this photo.

What’s fun about going on photowalks like this, at least that I’m discovering, is when in the company of fellow Nikon owners, you get the opportunity to try out different lenses to at least experiment with other components that I could get for my D90. For example, the final shot above was wide-angle lens of Peter’s that he let me borrow about half-way through the photowalk. It really gives you a good idea of how something works and feels before you consider purchasing said gear.

But it doesn’t matter about what lens you have. Jordan always looks sharp.

The biggest element that I get from photowalks like this is just learning my camera. It’s how I learned the ins and outs of my Canon S5 IS, and the Nikon D90 is no exception. I’m refining what I already know to get a better grasp on pushing my photography, but when you’re around people like this who know even more, you are constantly learning. The conversations are incredibly geeky at some points, but understanding terms, sharing concepts, and having someone grab your camera to show you some setting that you didn’t know existed is invaluable. It’s a true testament of only getting better by simply giving it shot.

Actually, in photowalking terms, you give it about 500 shots in hopes that you come up with a handful of good ones.

Post edit: Tyler referenced some other shots that were not apart of the photowalk but taken at the impromptu gathering at The Whip later on in the day. I was using a fish eye lens from John Biehler to play around a little.

Also just to showcase another lens that I hope to purchase one day, here’s a great shot of Monica with a 35mm f/1.8 lens, lent to me by (who else?) Peter to try out.

I love the way this lens gives you such a sharp focus while making the background nice and soft. Certainly put this one on my wish list. Not exactly stuff from the photowalk, but when hanging out with like minded people, it never really ends.