Our first photowalk was last Saturday. Billed as the Houston Pro/Am, we had high hopes of a good turnout. But despite the unanimous predictions of good weather, the day dawned dismal and dull - and a very unHouston-like 36 degrees F (2C). Ouch. Folks in these parts are just not used to that. Few native Houstonians even own a heavy coat and those of us who do had to hunt to find it since it’s only needed once every couple of years.
Of the 30 or so people that FBed, tweeted or emailed saying they would attend, 15 showed. I must assume these people are hard-core photo junkies. Why else would anyone leave a nice warm bed on a Saturday morning and risk having their fingers frozen to their shutter release? Lord knows if Chris and I hadn’t been the event organizers, we would have taken one look at the thermometer, grabbed an extra blanket and rolled over. But I’m so glad we donned our thermal undies and fortified with double espresso shots, headed to Discovery Green Park. Because despite the gloomy sky, the photowalk was great fun.
The Houston photowalk was just a, eh warm up, for the photowalks I'm doing (along with photo workshops) at RonCon in Vancouver and Calgary in March and the IABC World Conference in Toronto.
Seeing the same thing through the eyes of others is one of the coolest things about a photowalk. I loved watching the shooters find shots, fanning out like they were on an Easter egg hunt. It was fascinating to see how some things universally attracted their attention, and then I was totally surprised at how different the shots came out.
Ever the Pollyanna, Chris kept saying things like, “at least it’s not raining”, or “this would be warmish to Canadians, eh? Hahahaha.” Nobody laughed with him. Personally, I wanted to slap him but I would have had to take my hand out of my pocket and since I didn’t have any feeling all the way up to my elbows, I would probably have missing him anyway.
Our route ended at a mall food court that featured a very appreciated Starbucks and free wifi. Great for warming up, uploading and photo chat. Participants were encouraged to share their shots on our photowalk flickr group site. All in all the photowalk was a very cool thing, in every sense of the word.