The Joy of Photowalks
I have been attending or organising photowalks over the past 10 years.
So what is a photowalk?
In simple terms it a walk around an area with your camera taking images.
In a broader sense it is meeting up with like-minded people to chat and photograph things that catch their eye.
Walks can be organised around a particular theme like Holga Week, Polaroid Week or Worldwide pinhole day or just as a way of meeting up with some friends for the day.
Why go on a photowalk
Going on an organised walk with give you the opportunity to explore a new city or part of the country, that you don't know under the guidance of someone who does know the area.
You get to meet people who have the same interests as you and this can lead to new friendships.
Photowalks provide a hands-on learning experience. By exploring different environments, photographers can experiment with various techniques, such as composition, lighting, and perspective.
Photowalks often attract groups of people who share a passion for photography. Joining a photowalk allows you to meet others who are eager to learn, share tips and help newcomers to the hobby.
Walks also have a physical and mental benefit, walking is a low impact exercise and combined with some photography can be a refreshing way to clear your mind.
Who organises these photo walks?
Anyone one can organise a walk, all it takes is a little bit of planning.
For me the walk starts with something I either want to do i.e Worldwide pinhole day, an event I’d like attend or an exhibition that is worth going to see.
The start point will usually be a close to a transit station or a well-known landmark, making it easy for people to find you. I normally have start times around 11-12 o’clock as this gives people time to travel in to town unless there is a specific time start for an event.
For something like Holga week or pinhole day I will choose one area, so for pinhole day, we went to Greenwich which gives us areas along the River Thames, the architecture of the Naval college and Greenwich park.
I usually look to have these walks last 2-2½ hours and try to end in a pub or coffee shop, is gives people to catch up on the days events.
For events and exhibitions I try to have a shorter time span maybe 1-1½ hours walking but still with enough interest to photograph. Once at the event people just do their own thing until we are ready to retire to a pub.
Once you have the details of the walk set, it's time to set a date, most walk will happen at the weekend but some people will put walks on during the week.
Next is getting the information out to people this can be via any of the social media site, Instagram, X, Facebook, Blue sky. One site I really like to use is Photowalk.me, the site is run by Martin, who has attended a few of the walks I have organised.
Photowalk.me allows you to input all the details of a walk, with start time, meeting place and also let's people sign up so you have an idea how many people may turn up. You can also set the limit of the numbers you want to attend. Of course some people will sign up but not attend on the day, which can be a bit annoying if they don't let you know and you can be waiting to see if they turn up.
On the day of the walk I usually arrived ½ an hour before the start so I'm there to meet people. Once people start to arrive introductions are made and we'll chat. Sometimes people will be running late and I will wait, as it only fair as they may have come a long way for the walk.
Once we start the walk I'll just let people do what they want but also try to keep the walk moving at a leisurely pace and chat will any newcomers to the group.
The walk aren't meant to be anything serious just a group of like-minded people spending some to chatting and hopefully taking some interesting images.
Two traditions of photowalks are the group photograph and the picture of all the cameras that have been on the walk.
One thing to note about photowalks is that some you may have to pay to join them, some maybe sponsored by big brands like Kodak or Lomography although these are pretty rare nowadays, some might be sponsored by an online store and a lot will be free. Some of the walks can have only a handful of people on them and some can get over a 100 people turn up. Which ever it is photowalks are a good day out and you may make some new friends.
Thanks for mentioning where to find the photo walks these days - I didn't know about photowalk.me!
Thanks for this post. This makes me wish I lived in a large enough metro area to support organizing photowalks. If I were on the other side of the pond I’d definitely attend one of your walks.