Wow, it’s been a few years since I posted a blogpost. This feels a bit weird.
So what is the topic of the day? Probably this brilliant instameet that I went on last weekend. ‘What’s an instameet?’ I hear you all ask.
instameet
[een-stah-meet]
noun
An assembly of instagrammers who go off and instagram the shit out of somewhere.
It was organised by IGersBirmingham who are ridiculously prolific when it comes to instameets. They’re always guaranteed to be a fairly hilarious events, especially when you meet other instagrammers in real life and insist on calling them by their instagram handle and not their real name. Instameets are open to anyone, whether you use your phone as your camera or the latest DSLR, the only prerequisite is that you have an instagram account (which sort of makes sense). The idea is that you get to visit somewhere new (although that’s not always the case), and you get to dedicate a whole 2 hours of your day instagramming the shit out of it.
This one was based in Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter as part of World Wide Instameet Day. Yep. That’s a thing. We were set a trail to take us around specific businesses in the area. However, knowing the area quite well, I went a little off-piste and spent my time trying to take in the scenery that I don’t often get to see. I used to work in the JQ around 10 years ago and my, since then it has blossomed into a wonderful thing. I love the indie businesses that have opened up of late, especially the 8 Foot Grocer, Otto and the delightful Two Cats Kitchen. And yes, I’m quite aware that they’re all food related (Two Cats will feature in the next post).
Below are a few gems from the day (pun intended) featuring a few black and white shots too – the bright sunshine made it a great day for shadows and contrast. This was my first instameet where I used my (now retro) Canon 450D with a bog-standard 18-55mm lens. I remember spending a lot of money on it after I graduated from uni the first time around. Since then, I’ve used it for when I travel (it’s small, easy to use and I like the way the sky comes out) and also for photographing food when I had my cake business. I was a bit rusty on settings during the day as it has been in a storage box for a few months. However, I was quite pleased with the results overall. I use the aperture priority setting so that I could play with depth of field. There. That’s all the geek talk for the day.
I would highly recommend spending a day photographing the shit out of somewhere. No matter how familiar you (think you) are of your surroundings, try looking up or down for a change. I guarantee that you’ll notice things you hadn’t before. If you’re stuck, try looking at colours and textures – Birmingham is a great city for textures; old buildings made from bricks, new buildings made from concrete, grass and foliage here and there. If you’re lucky, the sun might even be out to help you along.
xxx
Connie Talks 