Photowalking.org

****Update****
I have some bad news friends. My attendance at this photowalk won’t be happening. I’m still hoping that you all will attend and have a great time. Our anniversary trip has been forced to remain in North America. We hope to make it out next year, though.
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This summer, I’m taking my wife to Europe to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We’ll be in London for several days, and I’ve decided to join Phill Price in organizing a photowalk.

On Saturday, August 16th, 2008, we’ll be meeting at the Wellington Arch, in St. James Park at the Hyde Park Corner. (just look at the map below). Be there by 1 pm, or you might get left behind.

This will be my first time to photowalk in London. I’ve been there before, years ago. However, I’ll also be meeting a few of my online photography friends for the first time.

I really hope you make the effort to attend, if you can. Please comment below if you’re going to make it. Also, head over to the Upcoming event page and indicate you’ll be attending.

Upcoming link.
View Larger Map

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As most of my regular readers know, I’m always trying to recruit new authors here at PhotoWalking.org. This past year we’ve heard from a variety of authors. Each one is working hard to keep us informed about the photowalks they’re helping organize in their own local areas.

Many of the photowalks, however, don’t just use PhotoWalking.org to help communicate the details. Based on my recomendation, most also use Upcoming.org and our Flickr group. Most also have their own Flickr group too.

However, photowalking has taken off so much that there are groups forming all around the world, many who have not even heard of PhotoWalking.org. That’s not a problem for me. I’m just excited that more people are out photowalking. Of course, there are many who are photowalking, and they don’t even realize it. Photowalking isn’t new. People have been doing it as long as we’ve been able to drag our camera around with us.

On occaision, I wander around the internets, searching for anyone else who might be interested in using our little community to help get the word out for their own events. Today I compiled a small list of upcoming events that could easily be announced and followed right here. Below is that small list…

• Flickr Scotland March Meet
  • Saturday, March 29, 2008  -  Sunday, March 30, 2008
    11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
• London Markets : Bayswater Market and Park Stroll
  • Sunday, March 30, 2008
    11:00 AM
• Birmingham Flickrmeet
  • Sunday, April 13, 2008
    2:00 PM
• Big UK Flickrmeet #3 - Nottingham
  • Saturday, April 19, 2008
    10:00 AM
• 8 hours in Venice
  • Wednesday, June 11, 2008
    12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
• Omaha Flickr Photowalk
  • Sunday, April 6, 2008
    1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
• Laguna Beach Photowalk
  • Sunday, March 30, 2008
    2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

If I’ve missed any upcoming photowalks, please let me know. Just comment below and I’ll get the details from you. If you’re one of the organizers of these photowalks, or any other photowalk, please know that you are welcome to have an author’s account here and I’ll do whatever I can to support your own local photowalks.

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On the way to work today, I was listening to one of my regular podcasts, and I heard them plug this very site. The hosts, Bill and Ed, took the time to explain to their listeners what a photowalk is all about. They plugged our URL, and really did a nice job encouraging people to get out and give photowalking a try.

Lightsource is one of the three photography podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. It is produced by StudioLighting.net, and they release not just high quality content, but it’s good enough to learn from each episode.

Because of their recent announcement on the air, we’ll probably have a handful of new readers stumbling on over. So, if you’re one of those new readers, Welcome!

A good place to start is our FAQ.

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For quite a bit I’ve not liked the Photowalking.org theme. So, a couple of months back I started looking for a new one. In the midst I found a theme that I just knew would work great for my personal blog over at TrevorCarpenter.com. I continued my search.

Every so often I’d load up a small list of themes, testing them out. Usually I’d do this late at night, when most in the US were sleeping. I never liked what I kept trying.

Then this week it hit me. Hey! I like my other blog’s theme. Why not use it on both. So, here it is!

What I wanted was something simple enough to not draw attention from the articles and the photographs included. Something easy to navigate, with good sidebar widget control. Additionally, I wanted a theme that was wide enough to include large images or many in just one. What do you think?

Oh, and if you’re reading this in your RSS reader…click on over and take a look.

I still have a little bit of work to do. I need to move over all the information from the old sidebar and the ad stuff for B&H.

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So, weeks ago it was announced that we’re doing a day-after-Christmas Photowalk. Join us! We’ll be meeting at the Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood at 4pm. Upcoming link. Thomas Hawk is coming, and so should you!

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You know, I’ve always wanted to take advantage of geotagging my photos, especially the ones I shoot on a photowalk. What a cool way to organize and track the progress of a photowalk. Many of the tools out there are multistep confused messes.

Drew over at BenSpark.com has mentioned before that he uses a special GPS unit called a GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™. He seems to really like it, and it works quite well for him. The GiSTEQ website indicates the the included software syncs with a Windows based computer, so there is some limitations.

I am curious if the file outputted is an industry standard file. Maybe with an open source app, one could merge the information elsewhere….hmmmm.

Well, Drew is having a contest over at his blog, giving us all the chance to win one of the new units. On second thought, I want one, so NO ONE go over there and enter the contest.

BTW, while I’m thinking of it…what would I do with one of these things? Well, I think if I had the opportunity to do some nice wilderness or forest landscape shooting, I could really use a nice GPS unit like the PhotoTrackr. Keeping a good idea where each shot is taken could make for a nice series. I could find a nice location and shoot it in all 4 seasons. Having a nice and accurate record of where each shot is taken would be great.

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Come join us just after Thanksgiving, on Sunday, 11/25/2007, as we photowalk beautiful old town Los Angeles. Olvera Street is traditionally considered the birthplace of Los Angeles. There is rich history contained within a short walk from this place in every direction.

We’ll meet at 2:00pm, at the end of Olvera Street, where it empties onto the large Plaza, or Placita. There’s a cross to mark the place, as seen in the photo above. The map below marks the spot with a camera, you can’t miss it. Here’s the Upcoming link.

View Larger Map

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You know, I’ve recently realized that we’ve got quite a few people trying to recruit some mighty photowalking armies, all over the world. So, I guess I should list them for you here.

• Italy
• Montreal, Quebec

• Southern California
  
• San Francisco Bay area
• Denver, Colorado
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• West Houston, Texas
• Little Rock, Arkansas
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Detroit, Michigan
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Morris County, New Jersey
• Washington, District of Columbia
• Northeastern Vermont
• Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Are you photowalking in another area? Then, add yourself in the comments. If you’re game, I can even help you organize and grow your events. Just let me know.

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Hey, a funny thing happened this morning. I was going around and upgrading all of my blogs from an older version of WordPress to the most current. As I was wondering around with my FTP client, I was reminded that months ago I installed and tried out some forum software for use right here at Photowalking.org

The funny thing is that I didn’t realize that I had placed it at Photowalking.org/forum. So now, we have a forum. It’s using the WP-Forum plugin, if you’re interested. It’s kinda slow, but it should work for us, for now.

So, after the discovery, I shot over there and checked it out. What do you know?! A few of you have actually been using it. And quite a few have actually been reading the posts too. He, he. I’m so lame.

Well, I guess this should serve as the official announcement, we have a forum! Consider it announced. Why don’t you shoot over there and write a topic or thread? How about replying to a post or two? Additionally, if all of you start interacting on the forum, we’re gonna need some help keeping it organized. If anyone is interested in helping by being an admin, let me know.

Also, if you have some ideas about some categories and topics, please comment below or email me. I want Photowalking.org to be the best we can make it.

Head over to the Forum right now!

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Hi my name is Drew and I am the creator of the blog The BenSpark. I am an East Coast Photowalker and I asked Trevor if I could post here once in a while. He said yes and this is a recount of my first Photowalk.

I first learned of photowalking while watching an episode of the The Scoble Show, here was a guy following another guy as he walked around and took pictures. No, not quite that, Thomas Hawk and Robert Scoble created a phenomenon (or it will be soon). Robert filmed as Thomas took photos of tons of things and talked about what he was using for equipment, why he was taking certain shots and photography in general, all while walking around different locations with the sole intention of taking photos.

I thought to myself, that is an awesome idea. I asked myself two questions, how can I both photograph and be filmed doing so and why can’t I live on the West Coast and go on a Photowalk with these guys? The answer to the first question I have not found yet. I need to find someone who would be willing to film and ask questions as I took photos with a group of other photographers. This I will have to work on. The other question has yet to be answered and maybe one day my travels will coincide with a Photowalk. So until then, I can work on developing a Photowalking group in New England.

So I’ll start small. I’ll go out for a Photowalk with my favorite photographer, my father. My father taught me all I knew about photography as a child. He let me take photos on his Pentax 35mm camera. He explained the focus and light meter and many other important things. He always let me use the camera and take as many photos as I wanted. And this was when we had to pay to develop rolls and rolls of film. So I thank him for encouraging me in my love of photography. Well, these days he still has the Pentax but we decided to upgrade his camera. And bring him into the digital age. So we picked him up a Nikon D40. I shoot a Nikon D80 with a Sigma 28 - 70mm and a Sigma 70 -300mm with Macro.

[Go read Drew's first photowalking post.]

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