Photos from the BarCampVancouver09 Photowalk

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).

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

Peter has a good shot of me taking this photo.

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

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.
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BarCampVancouver 2009 not only successful but well worth the time

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Schedule Wall

Last weekend, BarCampVancouver 2009 was held at Discovery Parks Vancouver. And more than anything, I think the location was an ideal spot to have this year’s gathering of like minded folks to get together and discuss a good variety of topics, ranging from day trading, mass transit, photography, and even a session inspired by an old post of mine regarding freelancing (certainly read Raul’s post on this issue which further explains this session which I also attended).

BarCampVancouver 2009

BarCampVancouver 2009

I have always been a fan of BarCampVancouver since the first one I attended in 2006. In fact, that was the first big event in the Vancouver tech community where I was really introduced to the vast array of people who make up this city’s thinkers, movers, and shakers, only to have that be the tip of the iceberg of what it is today.

BarCampVancouver 2009

BarCampVancouver 2009

My favorite sessions this year were, of course, the photography focused ones led by John Biehler and Scott Prince. The morning photowalk around the building was followed by a great afternoon session regarding editing processes. Moving into the DSLR world myself, this is obviously of interest to me. I’ll post more photos from that photowalk later, but big thanks also goes out to Peter Andersen and Tyler Ingram as well. Learned a lot from these folks as of late, and you’ll see more proof of this later.

The other session of interest was a discussion I attended where the focus was the gap that exists between designers and coders. As with our projects with sixty4media, I found this interesting because it’s something that I personally struggle with on a constant basis. By that I mean the internal struggle I have between my creative sense and how difficult it can be to incorporate that with the infrastructure of web design.

As I get deeper into the realm of web development and push the boundaries of my skills, I find that working with a designer allows me to work better as a coder. Hearing the struggles, frustrations, insights, and ideas of how to deal with this gap (which varies from person to person), I came away from this session with a renowned sense of inspiration that have already found their ways into the how I work on a day to day basis.

BarCampVancouver 2009

I think the key thing to consider when it comes to events like this is that some of the best things you discover come from conversations you have outside of the sessions going on throughout the day. Sure, there are things like business contacts and the exchange of cards, but I’m talking about those elements where you really learn a tiny nugget of information that alters the way you think about or do things. Those moments are what really keep you coming back because who doesn’t like to be better at what they do or are passionate about?

BarCampVancouver 2009

Congrats to the organizers of this year’s BarCampVancouver. They did really well, and I’m looking forward to another one next year already.