ClickinWalk 2016

Saturday morning I attended my third photo walk - the second through Clickin Moms. Last year we met at the Sculpture Garden and it was great, but I think I loved this one the best. I think my pictures were better last year, but I learned so much more this year and, since it was a much smaller group, I was able to connect with others in a more meaningful way.

Our group consisted of professional and hobbyist photographers - and was led by two professionals who provided great information on everything from lenses and flash to posing to running a photography business. There were times I wasn't taking pictures because I just wanted to suck up all the knowledge they were sharing.

This year we started at the Mill Ruins Park, walked up to the boardwalk, through Mill City, around the farmer's market, into the Guthrie, and back to the Stone Arch Bridge. The group headed back to the farmer's market for lunch, but between my parking meter running out of time and my back killing me I decided to go home. It was a hard decision because I didn't want to miss a thing with this group.

Our walk was from 9:00 to 1:00 which I thought would be long, but the time flew right by. The only thing I would have liked to change was the weather since it was about 38 degrees when we started out and super windy, but I suppose it could have been raining (or snowing because, you know, Minnesota...) so I won't complain.

I love this area since there are so many interesting spots and so many lovely textures, whether it's flowers, water, old stone buildings, metal... this area has it covered. It's no surprise that so many photographers come to this area for their photo sessions. In fact, we ran into a woman that was doing mini sessions and I thought she looked familiar. I think she might have lead our group when I did the World Wide Photo Walk.

Below isn't a great picture (I snapped it at the last moment without changing my settings), but here are our two leaders, Kirsten and Angela. Angela was showing us how to pose in this spot to block the posts and fire hydrant behind her (and then you just have to clone out the big sign that was next to her). I was able to take a few shots of her with her full frame camera which was super dangerous because it just stirred up in me how much I would love one (but don't need one). Still, such a fun learning moment.

Speedlight recommendations

While in the Guthrie we checked out the Amber Room and the Endless Bridge...

More textures and lots of places for reflections as well...

As we were walking across the Stone Arch bridge we were even able to be a part of a marriage proposal. It was a fun little surprise to add to our day.

I really need to do more of these walks. I love being part of the photography community and the support everyone provides for each other. I can't wait for the next one.

Project 52 - Mississippi River -Week 41

41/52

I took the day off of work on Thursday Since Riley didn't have school. We spent some time in Northeast Minneapolis down by the Mississippi River. We had a bunch of errands to run, but I wanted to do something off the beaten path with my girl. We tried to have a picnic nearby, but the area with the picnic tables was cold and windy.

We quickly ate, but I still wanted to show Riley this hidden bridge that I thought she'd get a kick out of before we left. As we headed to the bridge, Riley noticed another path that led to an area below the bridge and wanted to explore. Love this kid's adventurous spirit in these sorts of moments.

We walked down to the river in an area that I'd never actually explored before. It was a rough patch of a beach - a place where people come after dark I imagine. But for us, it was a nice little spot filled with rocks for throwing in the river.

Riley loves throwing rocks in water and could have stayed here for hours. We may have too if it was a little warmer and we didn't have other things to accomplish for the day. I promised her we'd come back with her dad and explore the area even more. Days like this make me wish we had all the time in the world to explore and go on adventures together.

World Wide Photo Walk 2015

Saturday I went on my second photo walk with strangers. This time it was the World Wide Photo Walk put together by Scott Kelby. I've read  a couple of Scott Kelby's photography books and they are easy to understand and amusing to read. I knew he hosted a photo walk each year, but this is the first time I discovered when it was before it actually happened.

The walk was Sunday morning at Minnehaha Falls and I'm guessing about 25- 30 people showed up. I've been to the Falls many times, but have never explored the paths past a certain point so this was a nice adventure. I still wasn't feeling well (virus that was hanging on for over a week) and suspected I had moved into the sinus infection stage. On my last photo walk (with ClickinMoms) I was hoping to connect with others, but this time I didn't care as much. It's not that I didn't want to, but since I didn't feel well and thought about staying home, I just wanted to successfully last the entire walk.

I did get to connect with other people on the walk, though. Elizabeth recently moved back here from New Mexico and likes to take pictures of buildings that are deteriorating, Robert and Tim, a son and Father duo, both have mirror less cameras, and David lived in Japan for 12 years. I look forward to seeing the pictures they will share and see how different (or the same) their perspective may be of the same area.

We walked all the way down to the Mississippi where there was a beach I'd never seen before, but
would like to explore again with Jesse and Riley. I will definitely do this walk again in the future as it was nice to meet other people with a common interest and lovely to be able to just wander around and take pictures without worrying about being an annoyance to others.

I decided to use my 35 mm only. My zoom lens would have been nice, but I just love how the 35mm pictures turn out. I played around with a few different editing styles too, but nothing too crazy. Just wanted to try some slightly different looks, but now that I see them completed I've realized they don't look all that different than usual... except that my daughter isn't in them. As much as I love to take her picture, it's fun to take pictures of other things.

Apparently, there was someone there from Twin Cities Media.Net specifically taking pictures of us taking pictures. You can see us (and me) in action here.