Camera Walks

A camera walk is simply where you nab a friend who is at least a fraction as obsessed as you are with photography/videography and go for a stroll somewhere unusual. You then try to capture something beautiful and become more familiar with one another and the gear you are using.

I have a history of doing these with my friends as a way of spending time together. This means having deep conversations about one’s woes, or celebrating our triumphs. It’s great if you’d also like to be absorbed in a creative process while not spending that time alone.

After the first hour of awkwardness passes, both I and the person I am with become comfortable enough that candid photos start feeling natural. There comes a point where we become more used to the cameras, and less shy, thus being more true to ourselves. This is of course aided by the aforementioned conversations and laughs. Having a friend along also helps me dearly in terms of learning how to be a good portrait photographer. It gives me the opportunity to have a subject who I can ask to pose for me.

Another bonus is being able to walk the dog, like I did here with Caitlin and her beautiful and energetic 15-year-old pup Jasper. Caitlin is equally, if not more, obsessed with cameras and brought along her Fuji X-T30 II, which has film emulations that she makes incredible use of. It was a very bright and sunny day, and looking back at these photos I can tell I hadn’t quite nailed manually exposing my photos, as they all felt a bit too bright. Still a great memory to look back on and a good learning lesson.

This walk I did with Norma is actually a repeat of one I did with Haven a few years back, photos of which only exist on my Instagram page. I remembered the moody lighting in the forest and thought it would be great to drag Norma out and capture some more artsy pictures in the darker setting. She’s much more into videography, and loved recording bokeh and lighting effects up through the leaves of the trees. Her outfit was stunning and I’d love to take her out again on more of a street photography walk in the future.

This was my first time seeing snow. Like ever. And I was so lucky to have both acquired my new camera, and to be hanging out with Haven on that day. Another stroke of luck was finishing work at midday, so we could head straight up the mountain before all the snow melted. And we briefly got to meet this adorable white dog, really solidifying that dogs keep magically appearing in most of my journal entries. All in all this was quite a fortunate and jolly day that I enjoyed very much. Thank you again, Haven, for enduring my photography obsession by coming along for this stunning walk up the mountain with our cameras.

I don’t see an end in sight for these camera walks. They’re a great way to get some one-on-one socialising while being creative and learning about photography. In the future I’ll be trying to follow portrait shooting best practices to really hone my skill. For the time being however, I’m having a blast being a happy amateur.