PhotoWalkPro

It’s that time of year again.  Time to join all of my NAPP friends for another fantastic Photoshop World and this Spring, it’s back in Orlando.  With the Winter that we’ve had here, I will be more than ready to spend a few days in Orlando.  And just as I have at the past two Spring Photoshop Worlds, I’m going to kick things off with a photowalk the day before everything gets rolling at the convention center.  The location for the photowalk will once again be the beautiful downtown area surrounding Lake Eola, just a few minutes drive from the conference location.

I don’t have all the details nailed down yet but we will probably begin sometime around 4:30 or 5:00, depending on the sunset time for the date. Which, by the way, is going to be Tuesday, March 23rd.  It’s important to note that this is not an official Photoshop World activity and is not affiliated with NAPP or Kelby Training.  It’s just a way to get out and have some fun before the conference starts.  In fact, you don’t even have to be going to the conference.  If you are in the Orlando area and just want to get out with your camera and have some fun, then this is the event for you.  So if you are traveling to Orlando for Photoshop World and want to get things kick-started, come on out and join me for an evening in Orlando.

Early Registration Discount Ending Soon -

Speaking of Photoshop World, this is the last week do get the Early Bird pricing.  If you pay for your registration by February 26th you will get $100 off the full conference price.  I’m already registered and I suggest you get yours taken care of because who can’t use an extra 100 bucks.  There are also spots left in 6 of the pre-con classes including HDR with Matt and RC, DSLR Video with Rich Harrington, Real World Concert Photography, and more.  You had better hurry though, the pre-con classes really fill up fast the month before the conference and there’s no telling how long it will be before they are all sold out.  You can find out more information on the classes, instructors, pre-cons, and registration at the official Photoshop World site.

By the way, if you are still trying to convince your boss/spouse to let you go, you have to check out the form letter that has been written for you to help with your argument.  Even if you don’t need it, it’s still worth a read.  You can find it here.

If I had to write a script as to how a photowalk should go from start to finish, I would need look no further than today as a near perfect example.  We had the weather, we had the location, and we had great photographers to document it all.

I would like to start off by thanking everyone that turned out this morning in Georgetown for showing up and really making the photowalk a great event.  Although we lost some folks by the end, we started with close to 50 people.  I am including some of the children that were there because they were either shooting their own shots, or posing for others.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find that photographers from as far away as West Virginia and Pennsylvania made the early morning trek just to be a part of our walk.  I would like to say that I have a bounty of images from the photowalk but truthfully, I spent most of my time just enjoying all of the great conversations I had with everyone.  We talked Nikon and Canon, and Mac and PC, and View Cameras and Point and Shoots, Lightroom and Photoshop, and on and on.

During one such conversation, a fellow photographer said something that really summed up the whole photowalk experience for me.  He said that he participates in lots of online forums and reads blogs and generally does the whole online thing, but he never gets to talk photography, one on one with other photographers.  It’s that face to face that really makes the photowalk so much more than just a shooting event.  It’s also a community event where everyone can share their ideas and opinions with people that share the same passion.  That being said, I would like to thank everyone that came out and socialized with me today.  I had an absolute blast!

And just as a little aside, while eating lunch today, a large group of us were discussing all the hoopla over tripods, including Scott Kelby’s recent tales of shooting in NYC.  We all shared our stories of being chased off from the many tripod-unfriendly monuments in the DC area.  Generally we get it and it’s just something we have come to live with, even if we don’t like it.  So after lunch we headed back down to Water St. so I could retrieve my tripod and find a spot for our group shot.  We picked out a pretty non-de-script building with a short wall up against the sidewalk that offered some good light and enough space for us to shoot a few frames.  No sooner had I extended all three legs of the tripod when a pair of “suits” came rushing from the building.  They were saying something about private property, “can’t shoot here”, blah, blah, blah.  We all just broke out laughing and politely moved our party down the street.  So here are the fruits of our nefarious act.  If I were a security guard I probably would have run us off too, I mean just look at how menacing we are, especially those two in the stroller.

If you would like to see images taken during the photowalk, head on over to our Flickr group and check them out (link).

Ok, sorry to make everyone wait so long but I was out of town last week and tied up with work issues but now I’m back and looking forward to next Sunday’s photowalk in Georgetown. So here is the plan. We will meet at 10:00 AM at the corner of Water St. and 33rd St NW.  Water St. is actually under the Whitehurst Freeway if you are looking for it on a map. The easiest way to get there is from M St.  If you are coming across the Key Bridge, you will want to take a right on M St. heading east and then turn right on Wisconsin Ave. You’ll know you are there from the big gold dome on the top of the bank on the corner. Coming from the East, you’ll want to hang a left on Wisconsin (same gold dome landmark). Go down Wisconsin towards the Potomac and then turn right under the Whitehurst FWY onto River St. There is parking all along River St. They are all meters but I believe they are free on Sundays, but bring a pocket full of quarters just in case. It’s about $1.25 per hour, as opposed to the $12.00 per hour at the Georgetown Mall parking garage.

I would like to get started right around 10:00 so try and get there a little early so we can get organized and have a few minutes to chat prior to getting underway.

The route is pretty simple. We will head up 33rd St to the C&O Canal. Then we will hang a right and follow the canal to 29th St. Then we’ll hang a left and head up to M St. Next it’s a right on M St. all the way down to the Philadelphia Cheesesteak Factory for some lunch and a little chimping. We can drop back down to River St. through the Francis Scott Key park across the street from the restaurant for some additional shooting if anyone wants.

I have a route map posted online if you would like to see exactly where we will be going. You can find the route map at www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1931605

If you have any questions please leave me a message, otherwise I will see all of you next Sunday.

I would like to thank everyone for the great response so far for the Georgetown photowalk.  After reviewing all of the comments I have to say that the June 1st date appears to be best for the majority of folks so let’s go ahead and make it official.  Depending on weather and other plans, I will try and make a recon trip down to the area this weekend to nail down our route.  I know that there is a huge parking lot along the waterfront on K St. so that might be our best starting point as there is no MetroRail service to the Georgetown area.  I would also like to make this a morning shoot, but I’m not sure how early as of yet.

I still have some logistics to work out, including creating a Flickr Group for the shoot but I hope to have that done by this weekend.  If you haven’t been on a photowalk before, let me suggest viewing my previous photowalk post which describes what a photowalk is and what you can expect.  You can find the post here.  Also, you can find images from my previous DC photowalk over at the Flickr Group.  To see the images, click here.  Stay tuned for more information.

In Other News -

Shawn King is planning another TimeShoot on May 9th at 12:00 Noon.  If you aren’t sure exactly what a TimeShoot is, be sure to check out my previous post which gives a full explanation. Basically you just have your camera handy at the appointed date and time and then click off a few frames where ever you may be and then upload them to the Flickr Group.  It’s like a world-wide photowalk, without the walking.  For all the details on the upcoming TimeShoot and how to upload your images, head on over Shawn’s blog by clicking here.

The weekend weather has not been great as of late here in the Nation’s Capital.  The thought of a photowalk in the rain and wind has not really inspired me as of late.  This weekend, however, was simply beautiful and so my thoughts have once again turned to planning the next DC Photowalk.  So where will this next walk take place?  Funny you should ask, because I actually have an answer this time.  A while back, Mike Palmer started posting a series of images he took during a shooting session down in Georgetown.  I loved the images so much that I thought it would definitely have to be my next photowalk location.

And so it shall be, this upcoming walk will take us along the banks of the C&O Canal, down by the Potomac Rowing Club, and then back up the M St. corridor towards our starting point.  When the photowalk will take place is a different story all together.  I was just checking over the calendar and picking the date is going to be a little tricky.  Mike told me that Sunday mornings are pretty quite down in Georgetown which sounded good to me but picking the right Sunday may be hard to do.  This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day (you knew that, right?) so I looked at the next Sunday.  Unfortunately I will be leaving on a business trip that afternoon, so that’s out of the question.  The 25th of May is the day before Memorial day which means that a lot of folks will be leaving town for the holiday weekend.  That leaves June 1st as another possible date.  I will look at the 1st of June and maybe the 25th of May as my two possible dates, so if you would like to come and have any preference, please drop me a comment and let me know.  Weather willing, I think this will be a great event with an extremely photogenic location.  So start checking your calendars and sending me some feedback so I can hammer out the details for this upcoming photowalk.  You won’t want to miss it.

To see more of Mike’s images like the one above, head over and check out his blog at Mike Palmer Photography.