Getting creative with my DSLR camera

Last Sunday I went on a photo walk as part of the Worldwide Instameet. I joined around 20 others in Bristol who love using Instagram. Waking up on Sunday morning I felt nervous but excited to be getting involved. We all met at St Nicholas Market in central Bristol and were lucky to be greeted by a morning of wonderful weather, fantastic light and surrounded by enthusiastic photographers. I was so glad to see a group of people had formed by the time I had reached our meeting point. There were familiar faces that popped out from the group too which was comforting. The plan was to take photos of the details of Bristol that people may not normally see or associate with the city and upload them to Instagram with the hashtags #WWIM12 and #igmeetbristol_details.

We spent over an hour wandering round central Bristol looking for inspiration and things to photograph to illustrate our theme of Bristol details. I've never been given a photography brief before and I had a lot of fun trying to capture it. I spotted so many things I had never seen in the city before. Early on in the photography walk my phone battery started dying very quickly so I tentatively got out my DSLR camera. I have a touch and go relationship with my camera, some days I manage to get it to capture what I want it to, but other times I fail, especially when taking photographs inside.

I got into the swing of taking photos with my camera and really enjoyed the quality time being creative. I felt a real flow of creative energy as I walked around. I really loved using my camera again.

My Nikon D80 camera was set on the auto setting to give me chance to really focus on the images I wanted to take and think about composition. Just by picking up this camera again I felt energised and know that I will pick it up more and eventually get off the auto setting once again.

I enjoyed the morning so much that I wanted to share with you a few of my favourites photos here.

Discovering the details really made me connect to the city in a different way, exploring the beauty and colour that we can find.

At the end of the photo walk we all met up in Cosy Club Bristol, a stunning and beautiful location on Corn Street. We drank coffee and chatted to each other getting to know everyone a little more.

By taking just a few hours out of my normal Sunday routine I managed to take away a few key things from the experience.

The morning showed me that looking for the details of things around me each day that we take for granted can be a fun way to connect to places and get an alternative view of the space. There is so much beauty in the things around us, even in an urban environment, and we don't have to head out to the countryside to take photos.

It reminded me that taking a step out of my comfort zone and doing something new is energising and an experience I do really enjoy, even if I feel a little nervous beforehand.

For me one of the biggest take aways was reconnecting with one of my very favourite hobbies, photography. My love of taking photos and capturing details pushed me to start this blog. Picking up my DSLR camera after a break away from using it made me realise how much photography means to me.

Thank you to Laura, from the beautiful blog Circle of Pine Trees, and Lou from Little Green Shed for organising the event. It was lovely meeting you both and talking photography. I'm very grateful for the experience last Sunday as it got me back in a photography flow once again.