Stuff to Shoot

Went out with Grungmann again yesterday and shot the photowalk route. I think there will be plenty of fun stuff to shoot if people keep their eye peeled as my daddy used to say. Click on one of the images to go to a small gallery of the images above.

I sent out an email to all the registered participants yesterday, but I know many of you plan to come and walk with us as unregistered participants and that is great! So here is the same letter for you, just so you don't feel left out.

Greetings Fearless Walkers!

It’s shaping up to be quite a weekend. We will be having many more than the scheduled 50 walkers, (but only your 50 are getting the chance to win the city prize and the grand prize) but as they say, the more the merrier!

During the Walk…

Safety First! – Please be aware of your surroundings! Remember that there is real traffic on the other side of that lens and that you mustn’t get too distracted by what you are shooting and forget that. I don't want someone ending the day at the hospital!

Be Mindful of Your Gear – A large group of photographers can attract a lot of attention – some of it, not the good kind. Please be be mindful of your gear at all times. Again, just be aware of your surroundings!

Be Prepared for Walk-ups – As I said, the enthusiasm for this event has been very high so do not be surprised if unregistered walkers arrive to join our group. We want to share this experience with everyone so please, allow unregistered walkers to join in on the fun! Just be sure they understand that, as last-minute participants, they are not eligible to submit their photos for the prize. Only walkers that pre-registered for your walk will have that access to upload photos.

Play nice – Remember folks, this is a social event - A time to meet with fellow photographers and maybe gain some new perspectives. Take the time to share your knowledge with others. If someone shows up with a disposable camera, don’t laugh. Instead, why not take them under your wing? And if police or security guards stop you from photographing a building or something (hey, it happens) just nod politely and move on. The name of this game is, “Keeping it Social.”

Remember, It’s a Photo Walk, Not a Photo Parade – A photo walk is supposed to be a social event. Participants are encouraged to move and mingle at their own pace. You do not have to stay together and move as a group! The only thing that should be done as a group is the very beginning and the very end. As long as everyone reconvenes at the final meeting place (Kasim Mustafa) at the end, our walk will be a complete success!

What if it Rains? – Since this Penang, it could be raining during all or part of the walk. So, what if it is raining? We walk on - no rain day. We will just get very cool shots of Penang in the rain. If it looks like it might rain, bring an umbrella, a raincoat/jacket and of course, something to cover your camera and lens in case it rains. Sometimes, an extra shirt to cover the camera or lens doesn’t hurt. I’ve seen people use plastic too to cover their cameras.

After the Walk…

Remember to Upload – All walkers must upload their photos to our group’s Flickr Page by Midnight on Tuesday, August 26 if you want to be considered for both the city and grand prizes. Please Note: They’ve placed a Flickr link on our City page to better help you with this.

… and lastly, BE SAFE! – I really cannot stress to you how important it is to impart a message of safety to all you walkers. Photo walks are meant to celebrate the spirit of photography in a fun and social setting. Nothing would dampen this notion faster than the knowledge that a fellow Photographer got more than he/she bargained for in the process. Let’s keep it fun and safe folks so we can do this again sometime.

Here is an excellent post by Jeff Revell on just about everything you need to know when it comes to photo-walking HERE.

WHAT TO BRING:
Your camera. That’s the most important thing. Don’t forget it. Don’t have an SLR? That’s okay! Just bring whatever camera you have. Make sure your batteries are charged and you have enough memory.
Lenses - Bring 1 or 2 lenses… generally a wide and a zoom lens would be good so that you can cover a lot of things. It really depends on how you usually shoot, but as much as possible, I’d advise you to travel light.
Tripod - I leave this up to you. There might be some nice scenes around sunset so it’s good to have this. Don’t forget to bring your cable release if you will bring your tripod. Just make sure your tripod is light enough so you won’t be carrying something heavy.
Water - While I would recommend to bring a bottle of water during the walk, Georgetown has a lot of food stalls and restaurants, so you can easily buy a bottle of water there.

Ok, that should just about cover everything. Please email us if you have any questions.

But remember: Above all, HAVE FUN!

See you Saturday at 5pm in front of the Kapitian Keling Mosque!

Kashmir Out - Ladakh In

You might be wondering why I have not been blogging much this week. Well, I have been busy rewriting our Lumen Dei itinerary. Maybe you have been reading some of the news coming out of Kashmir over the past summer. Kashmir has been in it's normal turmoil and more.

Earlier this summer, the Kashmir state government gave a portion of Muslim land away to a Hindu shrine authority. This decision to give the land away was extremely controversial do to some old laws, and as a result it inflamed radicals on both sides and there was stone throwing and violent protests. We watched it then and during the summer the decision to give the land back was made and all seemed well.

Recently there has been another flare up as a group of Hindus had blocked the roadway into the Valley. The Jammu Srinagar road is the only road in and out of the valley to the rest of India, it is the Valley's life line. The situation then escalated and there have been riots, stone-throwing, shootings, and a city-wide curfew. As a protest to the closing of the road thousands of protesters took to the streets defying the curfew order. But when protesters clashed with police 13 people lost their lives. Obviously this is not the ideal climate into which to take a workshop, or in which to learn photography. David and I have been watching it closely, speaking often with our local contacts. This past week the decision was made to change things now rather than wait until later and hope the situation improves. We are committed to providing our participants an unforgettable experience, but we’re even more committed to making sure they are safe. So David and I have decided to move the tour from Srinagar to Ladakh, both are in Jammu-Kashmir State, but they have distinctly different cultural flavours. And, most importantly, Ladakh is as safe as you can get in India.

So this week I have logged a lot of time on SKYPE talking with contacts in Leh and working out a new itinerary. It is coming together and in fact, David and I are even more excited about this trip than the Srinagar one. So stay with me, I will keep you posted on our new adventure to the top of the world.

To give you an idea of what kind of things we will be seeing, I have put together a small slideshow of some older images of Ladakh HERE. I hope you enjoy them.

Tech vs Talent

David Duchemin has been ranting for as long as I have known him about how gear heads mix up tech for talent, vision for glass. Many, many years ago I used to work as a camera sales man in Ronnie Marquin's Camera and Video, in Waco Texas. The store is long gone now, but I used to have these rich doctors and lawyers come in and say, they wanted to start taking pictures of their kids or they are just getting ready to leave on a cruse and they wanted a new camera for the trip. I would show then the AE1 or the OM1 and they would grunt and then ask for the A1. I would sell them a camera I would have killed for. I remember watching them walk out of the shop and thinking, this is just wrong. These guys are swatting mosquitoes with cannons (Canons?) They had far to much camera and for the most part no skill. But I wasn't running a workshop I was selling cameras and as much as it made me sad, no lets be honest, jealous, that they walked out with a camera I could have made sing and they would only make grunt, I had to let it go. I was making money for Ronnie. A costly camera doth not a photographer make.

I can't tell you how many times I have had people tell me "Wow, I bet you can really take good pictures with that camera!" I used to get my feelings hurt. I mean, come on, yeah - a nice camera and nice piece of glass can help a photographer a lot, but without talent it is just a black box, and believe me there are a lot of black boxes out there. I don't get those comments much now a days. These days what might be true is to say "Wow, what a nice digital camera, I bet you can take a lot of images and really hone down your craft!" Now that doesn't roll off the tongue like the other, but it is much more accurate. The only thing a nice camera did for most people years ago is make expensive screw ups. But now in the digital age, a nice DSLR will give the newbie a chance to excel and to be much better. It is still no replacement for talent, but it will allow the young photographer to shoot and experiment and at virtually no extra cost.

I will close this bit of a rant with this story:

When Jack London had his portrait made by the noted San Francisco photographer Arnold Genthe, London began the encounter with effusive praise for the photographic art of his friend and fellow bohemian, Genthe. "you must have a wonderful camera...It must be the best camera in the world...You must show me your camera." Genthe then used his standard studio camera to make what has since become a classic picture of Jack London. When the sitting was finished, Genthe could not contain himself: "I have read your books, Jack, and I think they are important works of art. You must have a wonderful typewriter."

-photoquotes.com

Back from Bali.

Back from Bali. Only two things to say about Bali. One, it was cool. I don't mean a really neat place to shoot and a fun place to hang out, it was that, but it was physically cool. I think the average temp was somewhere in the 75º f, it was sweet! Second, I was busy and meet a lot of people and did not take many pictures. I went to a conference where many NGOs gather and tried to sell my wares, so to speak. Now we wait...

Speaking of waiting, the wait is almost over, only 34 days till Lumen Dei. I am very excited and looking forward to getting back to India after a long absence. This are going a bit crazy in Kashmir these days, so we are watching it closely.

Just for fun, and the fact I have nothing else to post today, I leave you with these shots of my daughter Jessie.

Glimps of Bali

What is a PhotoWalk?

Fishing the Surf, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia

Checking in from Bali. I am getting emails asking things like, are we going to all walk around in one group, can I come if I don't have a DSLR and more. So I thought I would pass on a very informative blog entry by Jeff Revell. Jeff has written a "A Guide to Photowalking". So check it out and give any feedback here if you'd like. I am able toget online more than I thought. See you soon.

Our PhotoWalk is Full!

I am trilled to announce that the Penang Photowalk is now full. A big thanks goes out to Harimann as well as the great folks at FotoKrazy and PotoMalaysia forums for ensure we have a full walk. Can't wait to see you all on the 23rd!