I went on the Austin Photowalk hosted by Trey Ratcliff last night. It was a public event which started at the Driskill Hotel on 6th street. I think about 70+ people showed up. Huge turn out.
When I stepped inside the Victorian Room which is where we started the meeting, I noticed EVERYONE had a DSLR. Maybe like three other people like myself had a point and shoot (meh Cannon G10 FTW!) Lol. Talk about feeling inadequate.
But for me right now, it has been more important to actually get the shot than worry about the quality of the shot. Once I get into the habit of taking photos, then I’ll worry about upgrading.
The walk was from the Driskill hotel up to the State Capital and back. I only made it to the Capitol Building and then decided not to go back to the hotel for “drinks”….
The only conversation I had was with a guy who asked me, “is that a clicker?” He wanted to know if I was using a point and shoot camera which I thought was an odd question considering I was one of the only people there with a camera lens that is attached to the camera. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to make me feel bad but decided he was just genuinely curious because he was very friendly.
Once I told him it was a G10, he was like, “oh that’s more than a point and shoot. You know you can attach lenses to that?” And I didn’t really know that so I thanked him for the info and asked him how he liked his Canon DSLR and he told me he’d rather have the Nikon. lol.
While I didn’t really learn anything or talk to anyone, it was just great to be able to feel comfortable taking photographs in public. And I think I got some really great shots which I’ll be posting and working into HDRs soon.
Oh and while I only talked to one other photographer, I talked to about five total strangers who kept asking me what the heck was going on…. they wanted to know if it was a photography class or if we were some crazy paparazzi crew. Willie Nelson was apparently downtown as well so they thought it had something to do with him.
I’m hoping there will be more events like this and that as it continues, the numbers will start to get smaller and so I’ll have more of a chance to get to know people. I’m waaaaaay too shy to talk to people in large settings.
