My Photo Walk or 3200 Steps

The phrase “Photo Walk” came into being sometime in 2000. It is usually a communal activity organized by camera clubs, but there is no reason to restrict you to not doing this by yourself.   This post is a group of images I made on a walk through my neighborhood early one morning.

I live in what is affectionately called a bedroom community, where my neighbors drive off to work in the morning leaving the development a virtual ghost town for most of the day. Therefore, having never really explored the area I live in, I decided to leave the car in the garage and take a  “photo walk” with my camera around the neighborhood.

Having no set plan except to walk for a half hour or 3000 steps, I decided it would help if I had some sort of theme to follow, rather than just aiming my camera and clicking away at everything. Since I was taking my stroll at 8 am, when the sun was at a low point in the sky and shadows would be very pronounced I decided that I would concentrate on shapes and light.

I think the key to a photo walk should be, no set plan in direction you choose. Walk somewhere new...because it will trigger creativity because it is new to your eyes.  Limit yourself to one lens as a challenge, that way it forces you to move about your subject rather than relying on a zoom lens. And lastly, be conscious of the light, shadows and lines that form the shapes of what your eye is seeing.

Faces of Exit 270 Part 22

This post is another collection of my people images that I have encountered on my photo walks. My approach to street photography is to capture my subject within their surroundings, and moving in for close portraits. Of course through all of these images...there is a respect for all of the faces of Exit 270 and it is my hope that this is evident.

Sometimes it is the subject themselves that attracts my eye and at other times it is the activity or location I find surrounding them. It is a spontaneous reaction to the life around me to capture it quickly. Most of my subjects like being photographed and those that object I comply. The key to street photography is to move quickly, not be obnoxious with your camera, working from a respectful distance. Although, I have been known to just about shove my camera in some subject’s faces and surprisingly without objection, I still respect their privacy and usually ask permission to fill the frame.

Antique Shop Faces

I love walking through antique shops with my camera...it is a whole world of adventures; with new discoveries each time you visit. These shops contain bits and pieces of another time, an archeological time capsule waiting silently to be explored.

When visiting these shops, I find myself drawn into a world populated by mannequins and dolls; that seem to be staring back at my camera. These are the faces I find among the antiques in this silent world, each one seemingly having a story to tell. One could consider these images a series of photographs of incomplete stories. So welcome to this strange world...I hope you enjoy the visit. All of the images were made at the Midtown Mercantile Merchants shop here in Tucson.