On Saturday, John and I went to shoot pictures for a freelance job and then went up to North Toledo to walk around and take some pictures.

Approximately 15 seconds into the walk, my camera died, so I borrowed John’s Canon 30D. I’ve used this camera before, but this was the first time I had taken it for an entire outing.

The lens John had on the 30D was a 16-35mm wide angle job. I think he may have had other lenses in his bag, but it was extremely cold and I didn’t want to stop and change them out, especially not knowing what the hell I was doing.In hindsight, this particular lens probably wasn’t the best suited to landscape photography. We shot a lot of buildings, and while I was able to get them entirely in frame from only a few feet away, I was surprised by how much barrel distortion I got.

We walked up and down Sylvania Avenue, checked out a couple of thrift stores and antique shops, and then headed to the north end of downtown to photograph squalor.

All in all it was a pretty successful afternoon. I got some more practice with the DSLR, got a little exercise, and capped it off with a trip to White Castle.

Full set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daverodriguez/sets/72157613102131846/

Why 16? Because that’s the smallest number I could whittle it down to.

Each of these photos says something about how my technique improved in 2008, where I still need to improve, or just something cool I did.

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