2nd Annual Worldwide Photowalk

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Julie and I recently signed up for the 2nd Annual Worldwide Photowalk in New Orleans.

This event, sponsored by Scott Kelby, Adobe, NAPP and a host of other companies, will be held on July 18th in cities all over the world.

A photowalk is nothing more than a group of photographers walking around taking pictures, then getting together at the end to talk about the day and show off their images. It’s a wonderful chance to get inspired, to meet new people, and to see how other photographers see the world.

Last year’s photowalk included 236 cities in 47 countries, with over a million photographs taken by 8,324 photographers.

We went last year, and the images in this post are some of what we came back with.

We started on the Canal Street Ferry for photos of the sunrise over the river, then caught the streetcar to the Garden District for a wander around the beautiful homes and cemeteries.

20080918184715_080823-2397Then we caught the streetcar back for a walk around the French Quarter before finishing up with lunch and sharing images.

The participants in this sponsored photowalk will (if they want) upload their images to groups on Flickr. All the images from our group last year are here on Flickr.

The photowalk leader in each city will pick out the best image from the day, and the photographer will receive Scott Kelby’s latest book, Digital Photography 3. The best images from each city will be reviewed by Scott Kelby, and the best overall image will get a grand prize, which includes a full version of Adobe Creative Suite, a Wacom Tablet, and two tickets to Photoshop World.

It’s a great way to spend a day.  We’re looking forward to it.

 

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New Orleans Photowalk

We had a great time on our photowalk. There were a little over 20 people that made it; almost 50 had signed up, and the rest missed a great morning.

080823-2169A few of us started on the Canal street ferry about 6am for sunrise photos. While the sunrise wasn’t spectacular, we did get some nice shots of ships on the river and the skyline of New Orleans.

 

photowalk-mapI carried my PhotoTrackr with me, and I was able to geotag all my images for the day. This map shows our route and where I took photos (pretty much the entire way.

 

 

 

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After we got off the ferry, we had about an hour before the photowalk officially began in the Garden District, so Julie and I walked around the mall for a little while (taking photos of the mirrors, lighted elevators, escalator blurs, and the colorful displays), then made our way down to St. Charles to catch the street car.

 

080823-2462 After we met up with the group, we wandered the Garden District for a couple of hours, spending about half of that in Lafayette Cemetery Number 1. The houses, architecture and gardens (it’s the Garden District!) were gorgeous, and I’m sure many people were surprised to see an army of photographers aiming expensive lenses at their house.

080823-2613 After that, we caught the street car again towards the French Quarter. We wandered around there for a couple of hours, until we were just too hot and tired to walk anymore. We had lunch at the Courtyard Marriott, where we talked about some of the things we saw and photographed, and shared some of our images with a projector.

It was a very fun day; I’m glad we went.

Our group is uploading our best images to a Flickr group: nolaphotowalk. Once I finally go through all of mine, I’ll also be creating my own set on my Flickr page.

If you ever get a chance to go on a photowalk (or organize your own!), it’s great fun.  So get out and photograph something!

The Worldwide Photowalk

Tomorrow, Julie and I are going on our first (official) photowalk. This event, sponsored by NAPP and Scott Kelby is being held in 236 cities in 45 countries. Over 7500 hundred photographers have signed up, and there are over $5000 in great prizes for the best photographs.

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What is a photowalk? It’s nothing more than a group of photographers talking a walk and taking photos. At the end of the walk, you get together and share your different visions and images of what you saw. It’s a great chance to get together and socialize with other photographers and just have some fun. After all, isn’t this why we all got into photography? Because we like to take photos?

20070311105006_pwood-30d-070110-6392Julie and I try to go on photowalks (by ourselves) as often as we can, and almost always do it in every new place we visit. We’ve also gone on photo "field trips" with our local club. But this is our first chance to spend some time with people we’ve never met, and have some fun taking photos. We can’t wait!