It all started innocently enough. I was on Twitter (you’ve heard of Twitter, right?) and I tweeted that I was in the market for a new camera. I’ve wanted a dSLR camera for a long time but even more so since I went on my first photo walk.
And then it happened. A friend of mine sent me back this tweet:
Later, another friend chimed in:
Pretty soon more people showed interest and Photo Walk Royal Oak (#photowalkro) was born. Our plan was to simply meet up with other twitter friends interested in photography and walk around Royal Oak, Michigan with our cameras aimed and ready to shoot.
We ended up with 15 people armed with a range of cameras including point-and-shoots, professional grade cameras, pocket Flip video cams, and a sophisticated steady cam.
Dave Peckens, Duane Orris, and Margo Davydova on the roof of Urbane Apartments.
It should be noted that although my camera purchase inspired the photo walk, Dave Peckens did all the heavy lifting. And by heavy lifting, I mean he organized the whole thing. Thanks Dave!
Royal Oak was the destination of choice for our inaugural photo walk both for its central location and its interesting downtown area.
Inside La Roche Artifacts International.
We frolicked in traffic, crawled on the ground, straddled train tracks, and even climbed up to the roof of an apartment complex just to get a good shot. After roaming the streets of Royal Oak, we ended our afternoon at the Royal Oak Brewery for some food, drinks, and conversation.
The bright yellow Wellies Margo was sporting became the subject of many pictures.
A few things I learned:
- Each and every one of the people who went on this photo walk are fabulous and I wish I could have talked to each of them more.
- After all the angst I had before my first photo walk with a point-and shoot, I am humbled. The photo walkers who had point-and-shoots delivered some great shots. It’s not the size of the camera, it’s the minds eye that captures the images.
- I have a lot to learn about photography.
So that tweet, that simple innocent tweet, became a photo. Actually, it became thousands of photos. And I find that awesome and inspiring. You can view some of the photos from the walk in this Flickr group.
Thank you to all who participated!