Archive for the 'News & Updates' Category

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Fall Rhapsody Photowalk – Recap

What a day!  Our Fall Rhapsody Photowalk was a success!  The day was gorgeous.  We just couldn’t have had more perfect weather.  I was fortunate to have a wonderful group participating who rolled with the punches while we waited for some stragglers.  Ren, where are you?

Sadly, we actually had a few people who never did find us.  We’ll be looking at how we can avoid that in the future.  My apologies to all those who were MIA.

Once we got underway the grounds at Mackenzie King Estate were beautiful albeit a little crowded.  The light hitting the autumn colours was outstanding.  There were so many striking elements to capture and so much variety.  Below are a few of the moments I was able to capture along with a group shot compliments of Ron Bets.  Thanks for sending that my way Ron!

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Image Courtesy of Ron Bets

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Adobe Lightroom 2.5

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Wanna know what makes me smile when I’m faced with long days in front of a monitor, working through hundreds and hundreds of images?  Anything that makes that job simpler or FASTER.  To that end I recently upgraded my iMac’s OS to Snow Leopard.  I’m not going to go into that other than to say, I’m very pleased.  It’s stable, it’s faster and it was priced right.  There are tons of reviews out there so if you want more info it’s only a Google search away.

This morning’s smile came from the Adobe Lightroom 2.5 upgrade.  It was a simple install that took only moments.  Then came the first launch of the new version.  Always in the back of my mind is this little voice that nags and makes suggestions about how I won’t be able to access any of my images and how I’m going to lose days of productivity to this upgrade.  I too, live in the tension of excitement and dread, that most of us have developed from way too many years of amazing promises and disastrous deliveries.

Good news!  Adobe delivers with Lightroom 2.5 update.  What hit me first was the stunning speed of even the applications launch.  So surprised by the speed at which it happened that I immediately doubted what I had just seen and closed the application.  I needed to see if I could repeat the results.  Sure enough, Lightroom bounded onto the screen a second time.  WOW!  So I started to navigate around and jump from folder to folder to see if I could expect this type of nimble behaviour throughout the application.  Sure enough the performance held and I saw my folders load in record time.  This is great news for Lightroomers!

I haven’t had a chance to really put it through it’s paces yet but so far I’m really impressed with what Adobe has done with Lightroom 2.5.  I just had to get over here and share this with you.  Now I’m heading back n to see what other improvements lay undiscovered.

Photo Contest Winner

Hey for those of you who haven’t been checking the official Worldwide Photo Walk web site, I wanted to announce that Mr. Brian McGarvey was the winner of the Stittsville Photo Walk Image contest.  Congratulations Brian!

Many thanks to all of you who participated in the walk and in the photo contest.  I had a blast leading the walk and seeing all the excellent images you guys produced.  Thanks a million everyone!  Don’t forget about our Flickr group where you can share your images with the entire Stittsville crew.  I’m sure everyone would love to see more images.

Here’s a look at Brian’s winning image, “Thistle”.

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For all the latest news and updates on Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photo Walk check out worldwidephotowalk.com For some other great reading check out Scott’s blog at www.scottkelby.com/blog

My Worldwide Photo Walk Moments

This year’s Worldwide Photo Walk in Stittsville was a great success!  We had a blast and you can read my recap in the previous post.  Today, I wanted to share just a few of the moments I captured along our walk.  I had a blast making these images.  It was something much different then the work I usually do.  These are just all fun for me and I hope you enjoy them too!

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Recap World Wide Photo Walk 2009 ~ Stittsville

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WOW!  What a walk!  This year’s Worldwide Photo Walk in Stittsville was a blast.  The morning of the walk was a rollercoaster ride of wet and wild weather anticipation.  It rained, it cleared, it rained, it cleared.  It just couldn’t seem to make up it’s mind.  As we headed out to the start location the skies were clear and the things looked good.

We arrived to find a few people were there ahead of us.  After some warm introductions and chit chat more people we’re arriving.  We had a good showing from around the area that represented that greater Ottawa region well.  There was a wonderful mix of ages and experience levels.  The diversity of the group led to some enriching conversations as the walk progressed.  Often times I would see small groups made up of experienced and new to photography walkers sharing information, knowledge, experience and even gear.  Awesome!

Our route made for some great opportunities to slow down and really think about the shot.  About half of the walk was under the canopy of trees along a creek.  Lots of tripods appeared and I was excited to see some ND (neutral density) filters being employed for some long exposure shots.  I’m looking forward to seeing lots of the longer exposure work show up on our Flickr Group.

As the walk progressed I noticed more and more people getting off the beaten path in search of something unique.  The mental shift from taking pictures to creating images was enjoyable to observe.  Later in the day, I was wonderfully surprised by some of the images that had been created by those who pushed themselves just a little out of there comfort zone.

Our walk encompassed something for everyone.  We experienced parts of a local green space walking trail, the Trans-Canada trail and our communities main street.  In the end we covered the gamut form rural to urban providing lots of opportunities for experimentation and expression.

I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention just how wonderful our group of walkers was.   More than just diverse they were warm-hearted, friendly and kind.  Our group was quick to share and help one another, leaving me with the feeling that those who love photography are some of the coolest people you can know.  Many thanks to all of you who came out and made our walk such a phenomenal success.  You guys our the best!

Hey Stittsville walkers!  There are some great resources on Scott Kelby’s blog to help you with your uploading and all things Photo Walk.  Check it out!