This weekend I tried something completely new. I took part in the first ever World Wide PhotoWalk. What is a photowalk you say? Well its where photographers meet and walk a predetermined route and, right, take pictures. Photowalks have been going on for quite a while but this is the first time it was coordinated wold wide. Our group met at Union Station in Los Angeles where we met the other photographers, got a map and a quick overview of the route. We had three main targets, Union Station, Olvera Street and Chinatown. Since Olvera St. is across the street from Union Station, most of us headed there first. We did get a few odd looks as we crossed Alameda, cameras, bags and even some tripods in tow. I’ve been to Olvera St. before but I couldnt honestly say when except that its been close 25 years. Once at Olvera St. the group thinned out and started shooting. We spent about an hour at Overa Street before a handfull of us decided to head to Chinatown. We went back into Union Station with a quick detour to the back, East Portal, to shoot a very cool and very large mosaic glass ceiling. Chinatown was just one stop on the Metro Gold line. When we got there, there was a street performance going on in the plaza, just our good luck because no one knew it was planned. At about 6, most of the people headed to Felipes and I headed home.

For me the best thing about a photowalk is that you do not have a specific subject to shoot. It forced me to think creatively about the photos I took. Think about your neighborhood. What would you take pictures of if someone dropped you off on a corner and said, “now go take some great pictures”? What would make my pictures stand out from 50 other people shooting the exact same things?

In this photowalk the leader of each cities walk will select a photo of the day, the winner receiving a copy of Scott Kelby’s new Lightroom book. Then each cities winner will go on and could win a bunch of other really cool prizes. The prizes are unique to this event and are a great marketing plan for Scott’s book.

Here are my entries for the World Wide PhotoWalk: LA historic Downtown

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29659210@N08/

and a picture of your’s truely leaving the Chinatown Metro Station

getting a shot over the crowd

UPDATE:

You can see everyone’s pics from the walk here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/scott-kelbys-worldwide-photowalk-los-angeles/