What a fun weekend! If you are interested in photography and have’nt heard of Scott Kelby or his Worldwide Photowalk event, I highly recommend checking it out and attending next year. Not only do you get to meet fellow photographers and chat, but you get a chance to win lots of great prizes!
I attended both the Stillwater, MN and Minneapolis, MN photowalks and both were great. Each photowalk is organized by a volunteer and it usually consists of a basic planned route (although you can go where you choose) and then a meeting place at the end. There you will have drinks or even a meal and share photos and conversation. It was a great way to spend a Saturday; and editing all the photos kept me busy all day Sunday.
The Stillwater, MN walk was actually organized by several members of the Lightroom and Photoshop teams. It was really nice to be able to speak with them and see how Adobe not only puts out a great product but cares about their customers, thanks guys! The walk started overlooking downtown Stillwater, and wound down and around the city and river before ending up at Smalley’s BBQ. While the lighting could have been better (overcast), we didn’t have any rain. I got some decent pictures and look forward to not only going back to reshoot some things, but maybe they will have an encore next year.
For Minneapolis the leader chose the St. Anthony Main area, beginning on Nicollet Island and making a loop via the 3rd Ave and Stone Arch bridges. It was a good choice for people that haven’t had an opportunity to shoot downtown, but seeing as I shoot there a dozen times a year, wasn’t anything exciting for me. I got a few pictures, but nothing I was too impressed with; I still need to do a lot of work on pre-visualization. While I broke off before the end, the group ended up at Grumpy’s for their show-and-tell. Thanks for leading the group guys, hope to see you next year.
It was interesting to see, at both locations, how many people came together just for a hobby. Given my other hobbies I shouldn’t be surprised (look for Airventure pictures next week), but for some reason I wouldn’t have thought a little Internet event only in it’s 2nd year could attract some 30,000 photographers in over 900 cities worldwide. I’m glad Scott and the other people involved took the time to put it together and I look forward to next year’s event.
I’ve put several of my shots up in the galleries for purchase (Stillwater and Minneapolis). If you want to see other photos from the trip, be sure to check out my flickr page. As always if there is anything on flickr that you’d like a print of, let me know and I’ll set it up.