So the Photo Walk in Estes Park was totally awesome. I must admit that I’m not the greatest at getting out there and I mostly stick close to home. I’m also a bit shy. But I took the plunge and joined up with forty other photographers (amateur and professional) for an afternoon in Estes Park, Colorado. Estes Park is a cute little mountain town that sits at the foot of Rocky Mountain National Park, and is home to the famous Stanley Hotel, which was the used for Stephen King’s The Shining.

I love Estes Park. It’s near where I got married, and Brian and I loved to spend weekends up there. He has a long history of going to Estes Park. As a child, he spent a lot of time there with his extended family. They were from Evanston, Illinois, and Brian grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Together they descended upon the YMCA campground there and would always rent the biggest cabins at the very top of the camp. It’s a really cool place.

So anyway, we started at 2 p.m. at the old theater in town and then went on our ways to explore the downtown area and take pictures. I took a crash course in aperture and shutter speed, and how to work my camera in manual mode the night before. My whole goal was to master those concepts and I did pretty well. I was with a bunch of boys that I know from work, and we had a pretty good time together. I wasn’t picky, so I took pictures of everything. Others were really picky, and some weren’t satisfied with the town. I was just happy to be out and about taking pictures.

After a few hours, we all ended up at a cute restaurant. There had to have been thousands and thousands of dollars worth of camera gear there.

At the end of our time there, we picked up some pie and drove home. My friend Matt commented that it was hard not to see picture opportunities everywhere, even though we were done shooting for the day. I couldn’t agree more. I can’t wait for next year!

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day: