Photowalks: What are they, who are they for, and what do you bring?

I have been attempting to get into a photowalk for a few months now, but they always ended up to be on a day I couldn't make it (sick, out of town, vacation). Finally, I was able to make one yesterday in downtown Milwaukee.

So what you may be asking yourself, what is a photowalk? It is exactly what it sounds like,  you walk around and take photos. However, the fun of this is you are walking around with a group. If you are lucky, you wont know anyone there and you get to network with other photo hobbyist or even professional photographers. The next thing you are asking yourself; how do I know I can join the photowalk? Majority of the time, EVERYONE is invited. You don't even need to take pictures, you can walk around the group and just learn things. Look how they set-up their equipment, how they handle their camera, or how they get the angles in their photos.

Another great aspect of a photowalk is that you never know what is going to happen or what you are going to see. The walk that happened yesterday was a prime example! So what do you bring to a photowalk? Well, photowalks can have a predefined goal. Such as landscapes, so you probably wouldn't want to pack a 500mm telephoto lens. These walks are to help you grow in your photography, so bring what you would like. Yesterday, it was only stated to bring a tripod since it was a night photography walk.

I didn't know how long this photowalk was going to be, so I left my camera grip with extra battery attached, I knew I could shoot for well over 3 hours with that on. I also brought two 16gb memory cards, as I wasn't sure how many shots I wanted to take (also is great in case one card goes bad). I decided prior to the walk, that I primarily only wanted to shoot with my 20-70mm 2.8 tamron lens. I also brought my 70-300mm with macro capibility in case there was a macro opportunity or I absolutely needed the zoom. I also brought some lens cleaning cloths, my air blower, and some granola bars (in case I got hungry). I will also put an exact list at the end of this blog of items that I brought.

1/20 sec at f / 2.8, ISO 3200, 50mm

1/15 sec at f /2.8, ISO 3200, 58mm

So how did this photowalk start? We all met at the 42 Lounge, which has some amazing drinks and drink specials, and decided where we where going to walk. As the group walked some would stop and start shooting things around them, some would lay on the ground to take pictures of puddles, and some would take pictures of people taking pictures. Right away, we had a huge random opportunity jump in front of us. As we were walking in front of the fire department they opened the doors, we thought we were going to get ran over. They were just actually opening the door to see what was going on, and they invited us in to shoot some things in the station. I ended up with two great shots from this. At this time, I was not using my tripod and was shooting everything hand held. We got a small tour of the place, many took the opportunity to snap some shots of the hose drying room (I was one that did not). I believe we may have spent about a half an hour just in the fire department before people started migrating back to the streets.

1/250 sec at f / 2.8, ISO 1600, 34mm

10.0 sec at f / 13, ISO 100, 55mm

We continued to walk down towards the river and it was just before sunset, and just before the golden time for photos. I was still able to pop off some shots before a tripod was needed, and I saw people shooting up in the sky. Looking around I saw the bright clocks were making a great effect with the sky.

We took a long stop at an intersection so people could try to get light trails. However, I was not interested in this so I continued to walk down to the river. It was now after sunset and everything was dark. Tripods were now needed as well as my wireless trigger. For some reason, I was have vibration issues when using my tripod as majority of my shots were coming up blurry. I'm not sure if it was because of the cars passing on the bridge, or what it was. However, this is one of my long exposed shots.

My last photo from this set (I shot about 90 pictures total, ended up with about a dozen I really liked) is another black and white. I was frustrated with the blurry images on the tripod, but I wanted to give it one last attempt.

1.6 sec at f / 10, ISO 2000, 24mm

Equipment list:

• Nikon D7000 Camera
• Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC
• Tamron 70-300mm (didn't use)
• 2 lens cloths
• 1 cleaning pen (brush and a cleaning end)
• 1 air buffer
• Lowpro 102AW
• Business Cards
• 2 - 16gb memory cards
• 1 - 4gb memory card
• color checker passport (didn't use)
• Nikon Wireless trigger (ML-L3)
• Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod
• Manfrotto 498RC2 Ball Head

I hope this helps you figure out what a photowalk is and helps you prepare for one.  If you have any questions feel free to leave a commend on here or on my Facebook Page. You can also check out what other people took at the Google Community: Milwaukee Underground Photography.