I know, I know – the Photo Walk was last Saturday, why haven’t I blogged about it yet? Between the Photo Walk and Sunday/Monday at Edmonton’s Capital Ex, I shot over 800 pictures. I managed to narrow the Photo Walk pictures down to about 100, I figure I’ll post around 80 to Flickr over the next couple weeks.

As for the actual Photo Walk, it went well. The weather was great – hot, around 28C by the time we finished. We had 32 photographers show up. I only knew a couple beforehand, and although I didn’t get to talk to everyone in depth, I did make a few new photographer friends/acquaintances during and after the walk. As I’d walked most of the area we were covering numerous times before, I rented a Canon 15mm fisheye lens for the day – and man, I loved it! I’ll be reviewing it at a later date.

Worldwide Photo Walk 2009 - Edmonton Group #2

I had the route planned out but not five minutes into the walk, we were approached by Huey – the owner of the apartment complex squished between the Hardware Grill and the old Jasper Hotel on Jasper Ave. He was curious as to what we were doing and then offered us access to the roof of the building for some shots of the city we might not have otherwise had the opportunity to take. It was pretty cool to be able to capture the entire Canada Place building bordered by Jasper Avenue and 97th Street in one shot. I’ve processed it in HDR using seven exposures from a single RAW file and due to interest I’ll be doing up a tutorial on my exact process for that shortly.

Canada Place (HDR)

After the rooftop, we headed further on Jasper Avenue towards Gibson Block, then worked our way up 96th Street, down 103A/104th Avenue, back down 104th Street and back up Jasper Avenue ending up just south of Sir Winston Churchill Square at the Second Cup. There about half the group chatted about photography, swapped pictures and cooled off to iced cappuccinos and the likes.

I’m looking forward to leading another walk next year – and I learned a LOT this year about leading walks which I fully intend to incorporate into my plans for next year. First off, even though I had the route thought out it was 1) a bit too long for a group that size and 2) I was the only one that knew it so when the group started to splinter not everyone knew exactly where to go. Second, it is important to have a DEFINITE end point – we had a general area we were going to meet up at but that’s not good enough. A good portion of us ended up in the same spot at the end, but there were a few that didn’t and it would have been nice to chat and share with them as well. That being said, everyone that I spoke with or emailed after the walk mentioned they had a great time and made a few new local photography contacts.

Gibson Block

What’s next? If you were part of the walk be sure to upload your TWO best photographs to the main Worldwide Photo Walk page by July 25th, 2009 11:59 pm EST to be eligible for consideration for the Grand Prize – which is a pretty grand prize if I’ve ever seen one – or one of the 10 honorable mentions! You can also submit your images to the Edmonton Worldwide Photo Walk 2009 Flickr group and/or the July 18th, 2009 Scott Kelby’s 2nd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk group – while you’re there be sure to check out the Edmonton FlickrMeets group as well. If you missed the walk and live in the Edmonton area, be sure to join the Edmonton FlickrMeets group as well – people are always meeting up and arranging photography shoots, and just generally chatting about local photography opportunities and photography in general.

Be sure to check out Saturday’s edition of the Edmonton Journal. Jennifer Fong, a writer for the Lifestyle section came on the walk as well and is writing about her experience for Saturday’s Journal.

I really enjoyed the experience, meeting new local photographers and am looking forward to next year! If you attended the Edmonton walks – or any of the Worldwide Photo Walks – feel free to leave comments on your experiences!

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The 2nd annual Worldwide Photo Walk is almost upon us! If you missed my post yesterday with some wicked tips from Scott Kelby himself I urge you to check it out.

As I mentioned yesterday, Edmonton has three walks that day (this Saturday – July 18th) – one led by Steve Allison from 5pm – 7pm starting at the Alberta Legislature grounds and ending on Whyte Ave (full), one led by myself from 11am – 1pm starting at the Shaw Conference Centre and ending at Sir Winston Churchill Square (full), and one led by Ian McKenzie from 9am – 11am starting and ending at the Muttart Conservatory. There are still spots available in Ian’s morning walk group so be sure to head over to the page for that walk and sign up if you haven’t signed up yet.

As for the walk that I’ll be leading starting at 11am to about 1pm, we will meet in front of the Shaw Conference Centre by the DREAM wall to the east (that’s left if you are facing the SCC). I’ll be there hopefully around 10:30 and we’ll be starting the walking around 11:05am after we head down to the bottom of the SCC for a quick group picture with the river valley in the background. Once the group photo has been taken, we’ll head east on Jasper Avenue past Canada Place and towards Gibson Block. We’ll then head north on 96th Street past the police station and fire hall. Once across the LRT tracks we’ll head east again and check out the graffiti on the LRT tunnel, then head south on 95th Street and wrap either around the bottle depot/scrap yard or west along 103A Avenue.

LRT Graffiti Mural Detail

Either way, we will end up in front of the police station and pass the Brownlee Building, continuing on past the CN Tower and then head north on 101st Street past the casino. We’ll hang a quick left and head west on 105 Avenue and catch the A. MacDonald building before heading southwest across the parking lot back towards 104th Avenue and passing the old Mercer Warehouse.

A. Macdonald Building

Depending on the time at this point we’ll either head towards McEwan College and take a few pictures there, or head south on 105th Street all the way to Jasper Avenue. We’ll continue south past Jasper Avenue and head east on 100th Avenue, curving around onto 102nd Street and then up MacDonald Drive catching some of the older buildings, the Chateau Lacombe and the Alberta College along the way. We’ll head north on 100th Street across from the Hotel MacDonald, and depending on time will cross and attempt to take some pictures of this historic hotel – the last time I tried I was hassled by the doormen and told I couldn’t take pictures of the building.

Either way we’ll continue north on 100th Street and either take a quick detour through Rice Howard way and come back on 102nd Avenue and end up in Sir Winston Churchill Square where we will finish off the walk by City Hall and the new Art Gallery of Alberta. Here we can hit up the café in the square or the Second Cup across the street at the library and hang out in the square and chat/share pictures for a bit.

Art Gallery of Alberta

The total length for the walk is about 5km, however there will be a few portions where it’ll just be walking as there won’t be a lot of the standard photo ops – that’s not to say you can’t stop and shoot whenever and whatever you want! As well, based on the time and how everyone is doing, we may cut out portions of the walk to shorten it up.

The forecast for the day is 25C – so bring lots of water to drink and wear a hat and/or sunscreen! Again, check out my post yesterday for some more tips on equipping yourself for a successful walk!

After the walk you will have the opportunity to upload two of your best shots to the Photo Walk site. Instructions to upload are available on the Photo Walk site, with options to upload directly through the site or from Lightroom. There is also a free tutorial on how to use Lightroom provided by Kelby Training.

Important dates:

• July 25: This is the deadline for photo walkers to submit up to 2 of your best images to their location page. These will need to be JPG files (not RAW or TIFF), and the size limit will be posted when you go to upload. Most likely around 1.5-2.0 MB or so.
• August 1: This is the deadline for walk leaders to submit their choice for best image from their walk to us. More specifically, 11:59 p.m. EST on August 1.
• August 17: The 10 honorable mentions and 1 grand prize winner will be announced.

See you all on Saturday!

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Scott Kelby has an updated post on his blog with regards to his upcoming Worldwide Photo Walk taking place on Saturday, July 11th.

Well, it’s almost here, and so far we have well over 27,000 photographers signed-up for local walks around the world this Saturday. We are all just amazed and thrilled at the participation and sense of community this has created, and we’re can’t wait for Saturday to get here.

Over 27,000 photographers world wide? Wow – that’s insane, I can only imagine how many pictures that is going to translate into! Scott also has some tips for you photo walkers:

If you’re a part of the walk, here are seven really important tips to help you make the most of your photo walk:

(1) Drink Plenty of Water: In many places, this walk is taking place in the dead of summer, so make sure you take plenty of water with you, and stay fully hydrated during the entire walk. Two hours is a long time to be out in the hot sun so make sure you drink lots of water before and during the walk. (TIP: Want to be a hero? Bring an extra bottle of water or two to share with other walkers).

(2) Use Sunscreen: If your walk is during daylight hours (and most are), make sure you wear plenty of sunscreen, and don’t forget to wear a hat for protection as well.

(3) Leave a Small Footprint: Make sure that you have as little physical impact on the area you’re walking in as possible. If you’re walk is in nature, make sure the area looks exactly the same when you leave as when you got there. Same thing in a downtown area—-we want store owners and pedestrians to welcome events like this, so be kind to everyone you meet, and create as small a footprint on your walk route as possible. Take only pictures. Leave only footprints.

(4) Make New Friends: This is a social event, and everybody is there to have fun and make new friends, so make sure you talk with other walkers in your group. Ask them ‘what kind of stuff like they to shoot,’ or ‘how they like their camera or a particular accessory,’ or ask ‘if they’ve ever been on this street or area before,’ and you’ll have a conversation up and running in no time.

(5) Let Your Leader Lead: Your walk leader has put a lot of time and effort into planning the walk, organizing and publicizing the walk, and making the whole thing happen (after all; without your local Leader there might not be a walk in your city, right?), so don’t try and hijack the walk; let your Leader do the talking, and the leading, and that way you can just relax and focus on getting some great shots.

(6) Get To Your Walk Early: It happens every year; some people miss the walk altogether because they couldn’t find a parking space, or they missed the train or subway, or they ran into something that delayed them from getting to the start of the walk on time. It’s really heartbreaking to get there and find that the walk is already underway and there’s nobody standing there but you, so make sure you plan extra time to get to your walk’s Starting Location, especially if you’re not familiar with the area. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress (and possible heartbreak) by getting there early. Plus, if you get there early, there’s extra time to make friends before the walk even starts—maybe you’ll make a “walking buddy” who’ll share the experience with you.

(7) Play it Safe: The single most important thing is your safety during the Photo Walk. Don’t get distracted by what you’re shooting or seeing, and back right into the street, or into another photographer (or just a person walking down the street). Keep your wits about you, and remember than many of you will be shooting in a downtown area, on crowded sidewalks or busy streets, so just stay alert the entire walk, and look out for other walkers as well. Also, don’t wander into any areas or alleys that may look the least bit unsafe—stay with your group—there’s safety in numbers, and of course always keep a close eye on your camera gear and personal items.

Also, make sure you check out the Official World Wide Photo Walk Blog (here’s the link) for more walking tips from Brad Moore, and also visit PhotoWalkPro.com (one of our official sponsors) to get Jeff Revell’s invaluable Photo Walk suggestions and insights.

I can say that I am thoroughly excited about Saturday. Edmonton has three walks that day – one led by Steve Allison from 5pm – 7pm starting at the Alberta Legislature grounds and ending on Whyte Ave (full), one led by myself from 11am – 1pm starting at the Shaw Conference Centre and ending at Sir Winston Churchill Square (full), and one led by Ian McKenzie from 9am – 11am starting and ending at the Muttart Conservatory. So far that makes for over 130 Edmonton photographers signed up for the walks! At this point as well, if you CANNOT make it, please contact your leader through their respective pages as some of these times have waiting lists.

Stay tuned, I’ll be posting more information about the walk I’ll be leading tomorrow. Oh and don’t forget to check out the huge prize package on the line!

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Just a quick update for everyone that has signed up – or is interested in – the 2nd group for the Edmonton leg of Scott Kelby’s 2nd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk on July 18. First off we have 16 people signed up so far! That means between the two groups we have 68 people (including Steve and myself as leaders).

Here’s a few links for you:

• Of course, the Worldwide Photo Walk group site for signups
• Follow us on Twitter! @09YEGPhotoWalk
• Edmonton Worldwide Photo Walk 2009 Flickr group where we will be posting photos taken on that day

As well, there’s a great new blog post on the Worldwide Photo Walk site with guest blogger Laurie Excell with some great tips for the upcoming event!

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Photo Walk? What the heck is that?

It’s a social photography event where photographers get together, usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town, to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.

This year on July 18, Scott Kelby’s 2nd Annual Photo Walk takes place. Groups in cities around the world will be taking place for a 2 hour walk on this date. The response in Edmonton has been excellent so far with the first group filling up in about a week. So I’ve gone ahead and registered Edmonton’s 2nd Worldwide Photo Walk group! We’ve received a great response from our Flickr groups, hoping to find people outside of Flickr as well. We welcome photographers of all levels – amateur and professional – with any type of gear – P&S, SLR, dSLR, film, anything!

The anticipated start time for this walk will be 11:00am and will end at 1:00pm to keep within the 2 hour time format of the Photo Walk. I’ll be scouting out locations that will have enough room for us all to “invade” after the walk to chat more and get to know each other.

The planned starting location for this walk will be at the Shaw Conference Centre but could change so watch this space for updates. I’m planning a walk throughout the downtown area starting at the core and heading up Jasper Ave a bit and back down further west. If anyone has a better idea, let me know!

Want to join in? Make sure you sign up on the Photo Walk site before it’s too late!

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Photopreneur recently posted an article titled “The 5 Most Inspiring People on Flickr” – their list includes Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir, David Hobby, David Bean, John Watson, and Julie Kertesz. I love this quote from the post:

the people on Flickr inspire us to become better photographers because that’s what Flickr’s really all about: looking at great images, chatting to fantastic photographers and using their examples and their advice to get better and better every day.

It’s 100% true. Personally I do enjoy Rebekka’s work, and I’m a huge fan of David Hobby’s strobist site. What I’m curious to know is who inspires you on Flickr? I’ll be posting later this week who else inspires me personally.

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Seems people in the UK aren’t taking to kindly to Google’s new Street View project. CNN.com reports:

Google’s ambitious plan to offer a 3-D street level view of communities across three continents hit a snag when angry residents of a UK village blocked the search engine’s camera car from photographing their homes.

Google of course claims it isn’t breaking any laws:

The spokesman added: “We take privacy very seriously, and we were careful to ensure that all images in our Street View service abide by UK law.”

Now I’m no lawyer but here in Canada my understanding is that you can take pictures as long as a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy isn’t violated. For example, a photo of a house or a person walking down a street is fine, a photo of a person eating dinner through the window of their house is not. I’m not sure I agree with their reasoning that Street View will give thieves easier access to scouting locations… I mean c’mon already!

Comments?

Read the full article over at CNN.com.

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Simon Blint, Director of Visitor Relations at the SF MOMA, Yeah You Asshole, Photography is Not a Crime,
originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.

Looks like Thomas Hawk had a little run in at SF MOMA. Nice picture though!

Recently I blogged about my excitement regarding the San Francisco MOMA’s decision to begin allowing photography in their permanent collection after years of maintaining a closed no photography policy. Directly because of this change in policy, I decided to purchase a family membership in order to support the museum, both with my artistic energy and financially. I was excited to begin spending regular time exploring and documenting the museum.

Unfortunately, I should have known better than to really believe that the San Francisco MOMA was serious about opening up the art and architecture entrusted to them to the general public.

It’s sad really that a photographer and artist following the museums own policy gets ejected from the museum.

This part did make me laugh though – shows you what people DON’T know, or care to find out.

He accused me of using a “telephoto” lens to spy on his staff from the public staircase on the second floor. Blint obviously knows nothing of photography because the 14mm ultra wide angle lens on my camera body was about the furthest thing possible from a telephoto lens.

Reminds me a bit of my own experiences… recently I took my DSLR to the swimming pool to photograph my wife and my daughter in one swimming class and my son in another. I got a few odd looks – granted it is a swimming pool – but I noticed quite a few people with point and shoots who didn’t even get a second glance… can’t wait to go back with a 5D and 70-200 f/2.8L and see what happens ;)

Be sure to read Thomas’ post and digg it as well!

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Originally uploaded by M.Gruber

I must say, I’ve been following M.Gruber‘s stream for quite some time now, and he continues to amaze! Having completed the first year of a 365 days of self portraits projects, he’s trundled on to a Year Two and is continuing to raise the bar!

Great shots the last couple days man – keep up the great work!

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Scott Kelby has a great interview over on his blog with regards to copyright, model releases and shooting in public for photographers.

So, I contacted New York-based Intellectual Property Attorney Ed Greenberg, who’s a published author on the topic, and who has been dealing with photography copyright, contract, and creative rights issues for over 30 years, to finally get the straight no-nonsense scoop on all this.

Ed is absolutely brilliant; he communicates in Plain English (and with a great sense of humor as well), and he cuts through the bull and gets right to the point (which is why we now have Ed, and photography rights advocate Jack Reznicki, co-host a legal session for photographers at Photoshop World).

Very informative, make sure you head over and check out the two part video interview and the entire “Catch My Exclusive Interview with Attorney Ed Greenberg for the Straight Scoop on Copyright, Model Releases, and Shooting in Public” blog post!

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