Last Friday, I went out to the Toronto Financial District with three fellow photography geek friends, and photographed to our hearts' content. Because I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like and I didn't feel like lugging around a ton of gear, I decided to bring my trusty 17-55 f2.8 lens with me. I also packed my 50 f1.8 due to peer pressure (two of my photo buds were shooting with their prime lenses). I really wanted to bring my 24-105 f4 instead, but with lighting conditions being questionable, and wanting to take advantage of the nice tall buildings of the downtown core at a wide angle, the 17-55 seemed like a better one-size-fits-all option. It did not disappoint. Not only I was able to take some really cool wide-angle shots, I also got some pretty decent close-ups at 55mm and f2.8, therefore getting shots with some nice bokeh. We ended up taking pictures both indoors and outdoors, so the choice of lens was perfect.

We started out by walking along Bay Street, just south of King. The first thing that caught my eye was a guy standing by the road with a bunch of bread (I think...bad memory), waiting to drop off his cargo. I got my camera out immediately, and even got the shot. Except that the shot turned out white, because I shoot everything in manual, and forgot to look at the light meter settings, thereby ending up with an over-exposed photo. There was no salvaging that Lightroom could do here. I ended up turning my attention upwards, trying to get some interesting building shots at 17mm. This time, I fared much better. We also did a bunch of shots in the Commerce Court courtyard. There are elephant statues in the courtyard, and I had fun shooting at different angles.

Next, we went to BCE Place. BCE Place is really cool because there's an awesome atrium with super-high arches, and lots of sunlight. There is also a great building façade, a fountain, and really awesome reflections among other things. I spent a lot of time near the building façade, as there some really great shots of people talking on the phone, and some fun close-up shots of normally blah objects.

We decided to head outside again, and hung out at the courtyard just outside of BCE Place. There were some cool wide-angle building shots and some interesting reflections, but my favorite part of all was when we took turns jumping. One of my favorite photos is one of my friends all jumping together. The spots they jumped from were arranged as a triangle, and they all jumped toward the center. It's times like these where having a DSLR on rapid fire will totally smoke a regular point-and-shoot.

Finally, we made our way back indoors, this time to Commerce Court North. Commerce Court is where CIBC is located. The big hulking CIBC skyscraper is known as Commerce Court West (CCW), and Commerce Court North (CCN) is the smaller concrete building. Even though CCN is not the most exciting building to look at, the inside is amazing. The stairway leading to the main floor from the concourse level is awesome to photograph, but the best part, by far, is when you reach the main floor. There is a massively high, ornate ceiling, and beautiful chandeliers. Photos don't do it justice. But they come pretty close!

Overall, it was a great shoot, and I look forward to another fun shoot with my fellow photo buds! Here's one final image to leave you with (below), and don't forget to check out the full album here.