Hi everyone, it’s time once again to answer a couple of photowalk questions that have been sent to me via comments on the blog. As you know, I have been answering questions posed to me by both photowalk leaders and walkers. If you have any questions about the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk or photowalking in general, please just leave me a comment and I will be glad to get you an answer. I only have two questions for today so let’s get to it.
Q - I’m a photowalk leader. Have I automatically removed myself from the contest? Any tips for ethically including the judge of a contest in the contest?
A - The short answer is… yes, you are pretty much out of the running for the contest. Photowalk Leaders are going to be selecting winning images from their respective photowalks so it wouldn’t really be right to select your own image as a winner. Even if it is the best shot to come out of the pool, you risk way too much scrutiny, and possibly an angry mob with pitchforks. Don’t forget that you will be receiving a copy of Scott’s Digital Photography Book Vol. 3 for your role in the photowalk. Also, even though there will be some great prizes for a lucky few, the real intent of this event is to gather together the local members of your photo community to share in the photowalk experience.
Q - Is there a minimum age you have to be to join a photowalk? My 12 year old daughter is very much into photography and would love to join a walk with me.
A - There are two answers to this question so let me start with the legal one. In the terms of agreement you “affirm that you are over the age of majority and have the right to contract in my own name.“ So no minors should sign up for an official slot. The second answer is that anything you can do to encourage your child to pursue an active interest in the arts, more specifically photography, should always be encouraged. I brought my 9 year old along with me on last year’s photowalk and stuck a camera in his hands and he was totally into it. In fact, I have yet to host a photowalk where there wasn’t at least one child in attendance, usually with camera in hand. Just remember that if you do choose to bring along your budding photographer that there might be a lot of people there and it’s your job to keep an eye on them and make sure that they aren’t going to be interfering with anyone else’s photowalk experience.
That’s all the Q&A for today. The other thing I wanted to do today was spotlight a few of the photowalk locations in my area that are still open for registration. I hadn’t checked the city list in a while so when my buddy Don suggested I give a little love to local photowalks, I was really surprised to see so many new locations in my area that have been added in the past couple of weeks. If you are in the DC Metro area and have yet to sign up for a photowalk, check out one of these groups.
Fredericksburg, VA 43 Slots Available
Culpeper, VA 31 Slots available
Alexandria, VA 25 Slots available
Wolftrap Farm Park, VA 46 Slots available
Vienna, Va 4 Slots available
Georgetown, Wash DC 44 Slots available
Wash DC – Monuments 26 Slots available
Wash DC – Eastern Market/Capitol 25 Slots available
Frederick, MD 32 Slots available
Currently I only see two registered photowalks for Maryland and one of those (Baltimore) is already full. There’s still time to apply to host a photowalk so c’mon Maryland, what are you waiting for? I see Annapolis is still without a photowalk. Any takers?
Related posts:
I’m not sure how your geographic location is fixed for camera clubs but you might want to look into it and send out invitations for them to register. This is how I recruited a lot of photowalkers to my early endeavors.
Dave E 
DavidE 
Mitch Sacks 
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Picking a local winner is HARD! I did it last year and narrowed it down to 4 photographers. I wanted to give each of them something for their unique vision. Fortunately in the end I did select one that met with the whole group’s approval. E-mailed responses simply stated, “We figured that was the one.”
Didn’t even think of picking my own. I didn’t take many photos. I was busy wrangling 50 folks and making sure we didn’t lose anyone.