It goes without saying that photography is an expensive hobby.

Then again hobbies tend to be expensive, last fall I took up crocheting for a minute – I bought $200 worth of yarn one weekend, and a pretty drawer to house them, they still sit, mocking me.

The cheapest step in DSLR photography is really the first step… acquiring a camera body.

My Camera came with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, thousands of pictures later, I was ready to try out other lenses.

One great tip I got while researching the next lens to upgrade to was to rent a lens. The idea of getting a rental lens seemed cumbersome initially, but the more I researched and read from others, the more tempting the idea seemed.

We checked out two stores that rent out photography equipment in Vancouver; Beau Photo and Leo’s Camera Supply. These shops mostly rent to professionals. Both stores have very friendly and knowledgeable staff, they were patient and accommodating, considering I’m not a professional photographer and they actually had to explain stuff to me – like… f/8 is the same on a 200mm as it is on a 50.

We ended up renting from Leo’s Camera because of their downtown location. I rented a telephoto zoom lens – the EF 70-200mm F2.8 ‘L’ IS USM.

It’s definitely not a walkabout lens; it’s a tad heavy at over 3lbs.

We spent the day in Deep Cove hiking (bad idea when you’re carrying a lens the size of a small baby!) and shooting our beautiful surroundings, we shot people, water, mountains, kayakers, houses, sunbathers and many, many more.

It was a nice tiring adventure which taught me that you don’t need an expensive lens to take good pictures, but most importantly, you won’t magically start taking extraordinary pictures just because you have a big, fast and expensive piece of glass. Photography is an art and experience doesn’t hurt either.

With tired feet and sore arms we made our way back downtown.

Later on in the evening we dragged ourselves to David Lam Park to see Delhi 2 Dublin as part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival free concert series.

I saw them earlier in the week during the Canada Day celebrations and they were brilliant! Their songs are a fusion of music from northern India and Ireland; I think their genre is considered world music.

I took about a hundred more pictures, it was a great atmosphere and I practiced photographing people and crowds – I think I still have ways to go. I tried some night photos and shot some videos too.

Obviously tired, I forged on the next day determined to make the most of the lens.

I walked east towards Chinatown, I took more pictures and discovered neighbourhoods I didn’t even know existed, it was all quite exciting.

I ended up back at David Lam for more jazzfest fun.

All too soon it was Monday and the lens had to go back. I’m glad got the lens, it was a great learning experience, and looking back two weeks later with a few new tricks up my sleeves, I’d have done things a little differently. I’d have been bolder, played with the settings more and experimented more.

In all, it was fun, I was sad to see the lens go – I can’t wait to try out other lenses.