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Hello:
On the 23rd of August we had the Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk here in Colorado Springs. We had about 30 photographers show up to shoot and we all had a great time. It was amazing to see some of the things people found in Colorado Springs that we pass by every day but seldom notice. One photographer captured a wild raccoon up in a tree right down town. We saw a fox, birds, a labyrinth, lots of flowers, sculptures, and interesting architecture. The one thing that stole the day was a wonderful sky with clouds, sunrays, and finishing off with a great sunset.
After the walk, I received a number of comments on how inspiring it was to go out and do some photography with a group like this. Many of them wanted to get to know the other participants better, and others made new friends. I have to say that I was surprised at the outcome of this photo walk. Some of what happened I expected other things were a surprise!
We had photographers from as far north as Cheyenne Wyoming, We had members of a number of photo clubs from around town, and we had pros to people that recently just picked up a camera. We had some great images as a result of the photo walk.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/scott-kelbys-worldwide-photowalk-colorado_springs/
Part of what really captured my attention was the quality of the images some of the brand new photographers produced. It reminds me that as photographers we often place ourselves in a box and we don’t look at things from a new angle or perspective. The creativity of the group was really top notch!
The following images are examples of the work from the photo walk. Please note that the images are the property and right of the photographers that took them. If you want to purchase or get more information about the images please contact the photographer directly. You can find them through the link provided above!
The Curios One
My Hand
She Can Leap Tall Buildings
Old GMC
As you can see the images are Amazing and there are many more! I would highly recommend a loose walk of this nature to photographers either pro or amateur in the future! It was great fun and inspirational!
Thanks,
Bill
Hello:
I tend to be a geek when it comes to gear for my photography. I can’t always afford all the bells and whistles I want but, I try to keep on top of it all any way. So I thought I would share a bit of what I have found.
1. We have been hearing a lot about think screens that can be put in our pockets, folded, and stored in a number of different ways. I think the big goal has been to have a screen in mid air. Well, technology is on the way to making that happen.
2. Wouldn’t it be great to walk around with hundreds, thousands, or more of your photos so that you can show people what you do? I get asked all the time “What kind of work do you do?” or “Where can I see your work?” Well, now we have a couple of options that seem to work very well.
a. Iphone by Apple – With the Iphone you can have your photos with you at all times, you can e-mail them at request, you can show a link to your website, or show a client the photos you took just for them. Other features include GPS so you can show where you took the photos, or where you happen to be at the moment. The Iphone has given the photographer a number of new tools! The IPhone even has its own site dedicated to the photos taken with your IPhone on Flicker.
IPhone
b. The Apple ITouch – Itouch is similar to the IPhone except the ITouch cannot make phone calls.
3. It wasn’t long ago that my studio lighting kit took up a lot of space, had cords all over the place, and weighed about 30 pounds. It took up the entire back seat of my car. Move forward a bit and now my lighting kit fits in a fanny pack that fits under the drivers seat. If I include lighting stands it is a bit larger but, still very manageable. I am using the Nikon lighting system that includes on camera flash, three SB800’s a Chimera light bank, and three light stands with Photoflex brackets that allow me to use umbrellas with the lights. This kit is wireless so no wires to worry about, It is compact, and light weight. I love the new set up!
I could probably fill pages and pages with information with all the new stuff out for photography. The above three should be a good start! Let me know what you think and if you have any nifty gadgets that I should know about?
Peace,
Bill
The past week or so I have been thinking about fun and photography. As a professional photographer I have found that most photographers don’t really enjoy going out and taking photos any more. At one point in time they looked forward to picking up the camera and finding something to shoot. Then once they become pro – photographers they tend to want to put the camera down at the end of the day and not look at it again until the next work day or the next assignment. Some how I have found a way to love taking photos even though I am a pro – photographer. I enter photo competitions for fun (More on this later) and I like doing photo shows, I like just about any subject to photograph so it is still fun to pick up the camera and go out and create amazing images. I hope I can keep my enthusiasm for photography!
I have been entering photo competitions for about 20 years now and for the most part I still enjoy it. It started when a friend of mine invited me to a local Camera Club here in Colorado Springs. It is the oldest photographic club in the nation! It was great going in and having a judge talk about images and tell me where I could do better or what they love about my images. It was a great time and I really looked forward to the competitions. Then one day politics entered the club. People were fighting over what image should win, and they would complain about the judges and the job they did. We quickly went from having 40 to 50 members at every meeting to having 10 to 15 members. We couldn’t find judges so we ended up having the same handful of judges over and over. The competitions were no longer fun and I moved on.
Here we are 20 years later and I have been participating in competitions through another photo club. I have loved the competitions. We have different judges each month and have only had one or two repeats in the past 8 years. The competitions have just been fun and I have enjoyed them. People joined the competitions for the fun of it and we could draw 30 to 50 members entering the monthly competitions. Over the past 8 years we only had a few complaints and two or three people that would complain consistently We cannot please everyone all the time. Well, this last month everything changed.
One of the images in the competition was too large for the rules. Some how members decided that it was my obligation to monitor the images that were submitted? I have never had this obligation in the past but as club president they decided it was up to me. Either: no members noticed the image, members didn’t think it would be appropriate to bring it to my attention, members didn’t think about it before the competition or if they did they didn’t have enough investment in the club to bring it to my attention. The image was clearly too large and perhaps I should have noticed but, with dozens of other things going on that were part of making the club work I didn’t notice or pay attention. The final result is the image won the grand prize! After the competition a few members complained to me. I asked them to please let me know if they see a problem in the future BEFORE the image is judged and I will take it out. I said that since it has already been judged it stands! (I knew right away that no matter what decision I made at that point, that people were going to be upset and feel that it was unfair!) It was a very difficult position that I found my self in. Had the participant been notified before the judging, the image could have been taken out of the frame, and it would have been within the limits of the competition rules and could have been entered. But it was judged while too large. It was clear that no matter what was decided at that point the competition was not about having fun and getting feedback for some people it was about winning and the rules are rules and “it is all Bill’s fault because he didn’t do something about it!”
A second issue came up for some members. We have volunteer judges that usually have no affiliation with the club. This month I selected an expert on the images that were to be judged. She is one of the top in our community but, she made one mistake in her comments. She used the term “impressionist” when she meant to say “expressionist.” In the minds of some participants, all of a sudden she didn’t know anything about the topic and it became “Bill’s fault” as he selected the judge! All of the images that won fit the category and they were outstanding images and deserved the awards they got for the category. After the judging I was approached by two members that stated that one of our members “accosted” the judge at the end of the evening. Another member complained that one of our members was very inappropriate toward our judge! I found this to be truly disturbing! We have never had this problem in the past but it is already having ramifications in the art community. It is going to be more difficult to find judges in the future.
In the above situations I have found that some people are not looking for solutions to problems, they want to have things their way and if they don’t get it their way they would just assume not participate at all! So what ever happened to having fun in photography? What happened to learning from the process? How did it get to the point that victory was more important than having fun? I don’t know the answers to the above but, I can say that this last competition was the first I have had for years that was not fun for me. It was clearly not fun for a handful of others, and it has made a number of people bitter altogether.
My hope is that we can pull back together and have FUN with our competitions again. I hope we can make some decisions that will help catch issues of images that don’t qualify before the competition starts, I hope that when people are frustrated with a judge they can keep it to themselves and not strike out at our judges or speak poorly of them to others. I hope that people that take the competitions so seriously can find a club that better meets their competitive needs and be a part of our club in a way that makes them more comfortable. My hope is that our members and I can enjoy the competitions that come up over the next several years. I hope to have fun with photography!
Just my thoughts.
Bill
