Upcoming Photo Walk and Photo Event Flashbacks

August 26, 2011 - I received an email a couple days ago saying that my Photo Walk Leader application has been approved for Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk happening on October 1st and 2nd. I just need to set up my photo walk page and choose which day (Oct 1 or Oct 2nd) and the two hour or so time frame for the walk. We'll also have a place to share a meal and pictures afterward. I'm going to be doing the photo walk in Adams Morgan in Washington, DC. This is a culturally diverse area and it has a lot of character to it. I spent some time a couple weeks ago and scouted out a possible route for a photo walk, considering it was going to be approved, which thankfully it was recently.

I wanted to check out Adams Morgan again this afternoon and add to my scouting trip of this photo walk. A couple weeks ago I found the FotoDC gallery at 1838 Columbia Rd. NW, DC, but did not go into the gallery till today. I talked to some of the staff about the upcoming photo walk I was planning and it so happened that Theo Adamstein walked in (with a DSLR on his shoulder) so it was good timing as Theo is a photographer, architect, and founder of FotoWeek DC/FotoDC.

I remembered Theo from a photo exhibit event called FLASH which was March 17-April 17. FotoDC partnered with the Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID) to put this event on. I attended a VIP opening of the FLASH exhibit event and photographed it for a magazine. I talked with the FotoDC staff about incorporating FotoDC into the Worldwide Photo Walk group I'm leading in Adams Morgan soon, and we could see the mutual benefits for everyone involved. I perused the popular library of photo books in the gallery which were available to the public during FotoWeek. The gallery currently holds the FotoSpace exhibition: Speaking to Silence. It's in partnership with The Pulitzer Center and Human Rights Watch with work by Platon, Marcus Bleasdale, and Stephanie Sinclair.

Theo Adamstein speaking at the FLASH VIP Preview event in Crystal City, VA on March 17, 2011.

Another flashback happened in wishing a photographer friend a Happy Birthday today, and we were reminded of a birthday party my friends tried to surprise me with at my photographer friend's place. It turns out that one of the gifts I received for my birthday was a digital photographer's handbook written by Tom Ang. I had found that book not long ago and inside the front cover is the name and date of my friend who gave me the book, and this was back in 2004.

It's been awhile and time certainly does fly. I fairly recently photographed my photographer friend's sister's engagement party in DC. It was a nice event and it reminded me of my photographer friend and the further encouragement I received back then to get more into photography which people could see that I was passionate about. The passion ensues and it's partly because of these memorable events, photos, and friends. Keep the passion alive. Keep walking.

VisionMongers

December 24: On Monday I received a book in the mail that I ordered and I was very excited to start reading David duChemin's second book "VisionMongers, Making a Life and Living in Photography." This book aims to help a person transform their passion into their vocation.

With VisionMongers and David's first book "Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision," he talks more about what goes on in the mind and heart of the photographer. There are many resources for photography technique out there and there is no single pathway to success as David shares in his VisionMongers book. One of the nice features of this book is the individual profiles of photographers and allowing people to know their story and their vision. Some of the photographers that I am familiar with are featured in the book such as Chris+Lynn, Chase Jarvis, and Zack Arias, and my eyes have been opened to photographers that I had not seen before. I enjoy hearing stories of how photographers came to be where they are today.

I admire David's outlook and desire to contribute to the international photography community. His specialization in doing humanitarian projects and capturing amazing images of the world inspires me to want to contribute more on the philanthropic front and to travel even more. The older I get, the more I want to see of this world and experience things. Yet it is David's work that also helps to remind me that it's more than just about the life of a traveling photographer, but that it's about our personal journey and how we can serve one another. May we be inspired to follow our calling in life and to be the best we can be, living a fulfilling life being and doing what we were meant to be and do.