The gang at Adorama Camera up in New York City (the Platinum sponsors of my official World Wide Photo Walk), heard I was in town today for my Lightroom 3 Live Tour at the Javits Center, so on Sunday they invited me to lead a local Photo Walk, where we’d go out shooting for a couple of hours, and then head back to Adorama HQ for some Photoshop techniques on how to post process the images from the day.
I have to say, it was my most fun Photo Walk ever, because so many amazing things happened along the way. In case it rained, as a back-up plan Adorama hired a professional model we could shoot in the studio, but as it turned out, we had great weather so she came out on location with us, and I did a session a shooting with natural light, and we had lots of large scrims and diffusers available to the walkers, so everybody got lots of on location portrait shooting opportunities (a few of my shots from the walk are below).
We kicked off the walk (25 walkers, plus helpers) in Washington Square, and wound up shooting a stand-up bass player, guys playing chess in the park, a jazz trio, and a real ballerina (shown above—photo by Jeff Snyder), along with “the bird guy” and half a dozen other spontaneous things that happened along the way. It was just such a great day, and I had a really outstanding, fully-engaged group, who really were into the spirit of the day.
After shooting for a few hours, (and winding up on 5th Ave, along 14th street, and in Union Square), we headed back for classroom time, where we went through Photoshop techniques and workflow stuff for a few more hours. I really, really enjoyed the walk, and met some great people along the way.
My thanks to everyone who attended; to our awesome model “Laurence” (pron. La-ronce), and to my gracious hosts at Adorama (especially Jeff Synder and Monica Cipnic) who made my job really easy and fun.
Now, I’m hitting the sack—got a big day at the Javits tomorrow, with around 600 photographers. Can’t wait!
Katie and I had such a GREAT time yesterday, thanks again! Katie was so inspired she is switching from shooting JPG to RAW… :)
Hey Scott,
Sounds like you guys had a great time. I will join in for the Photowalk here in OKC on Saturday. Last year’s was so much fun, I can’t wait till Saturday.
See ya in Vegas my friend,
Mike
Nice shots…what was the walk around lens that you used?
Scott,
I have a couple of young girls who want to be models coming out to give my walkers a subject to photograph. I’m excited and like Mike I can’t wait until Vegas!
K.
Hey Scott,
Pictures look great as always. I am going on a photo walk in Destin, Florida on the 24th. I am eagerly looking forward to it. I just can’t decide what lens to take. I have a Tamron 28-300 but its slower than anybody’s grandmother, so I’m torn between the Canon 24-105 or 70-200. Obviously the 24-105 is lighter but we are doing late afternoon so the 70-200 might come in handy for low light. Knowing me I will probably make it harder on my self and carry both.
Tim…I would say based on past experience, go with a single body and a single lens. It’s fun to have the challenge of finding the right shot with the rig you have in hand.
I walked last year and knew everyone would be packing nice cameras and lenses, so I went with a rig that would allow me to stand out from the crowd for better or worse. I went with an infrared converted D70 and the 18-200 kit lens. Nice and light and I ended up winning for my city, so you never know. Have fun!
http://www.downwarddogphotography.com/photowalk
I’m the leader for the Destin walk and very excited. The choice is tough. Plenty of boats, buildings and bridges – I’d bring em both.
Rick Farrow
I like group photo shoots because it’s so interesting to see how everyone’s eyes see things so differently from each other.
Hi Scott! Thanks for the great photo walk and photoshop tips (though I don’t have it). Got some great pics. It was a pleasure to meet you and I hope to shoot with you again sometime soon.
Thanks again.
Looks like awesome fun, shame I’m so far away!
Hi Scott!! Thanks for the great photo walk and photoshop tips (though I don’t have it yet). Your easy going style and wonderful sense of humor made the walk, even on a blistering hot day, so much fun. I even got some nice pics too!
Be well and thanks again!
Thank you Scott for a wonder day. The experience was awesome. I was so impressed by your creativity and willingness share techniques in such simple and down to earth fashion. I can’t wait to pick up my camera and do the Worldwide Photowalk next Saturday.
Photowalks is always a good idea. Learn a lot as well.
Nice set of pictures. Musicians are always great subjects to shoot.
Hey Scott, it was very nice meeting you on Sunday. I had a great time at the walk and learned a lot! Hope to do some more walks with you in the future!
Scott, it was great working with you again. I learned quite a bit. The most important thing I learned is at the end of the day we are all people. So being able to communicate effectively is key. I was amazed how smoothly you spoke to people I would have difficulty approaching. And I’ve lived in New York all my life.
So my take back is its not the equipment it simply people.
BTW, where can I find info on that one week seminar that you spoke of?
Some really good snaps here Scott. It’s great to capture moments from your normal day to day life. Not only do you get great compositions out of it but you can reminisce about your events.
Some great effective work. Keep it up.