Photography Walks
Walking but with a creative excuse to stop every 30 seconds.
Photography walks are group outings where you explore a neighborhood, trail, or city together while shooting photos. Phone cameras are totally fine. The group aspect adds accountability, fresh perspectives, and someone to argue with about composition. Many groups pick themes, shadows, doors, textures, red things, to keep it interesting.
How to start
- 1Search for photo walk groups on Meetup or Instagram hashtags in your city.
- 2Bring your phone. That's the camera. Don't let gear anxiety stop you.
- 3Pick a route you've walked before, you'll see it completely differently through a lens.
- 4Set a constraint: only shoot from below waist level, or only capture reflections.
What you'll need
- Phone with a cameraEssentialFree
- Comfortable walking shoesEssentialFree
Where to learn more
Plot twists
Ways to spice this up when the basics get boring.
- Photo bingo, create a card of things to find and photograph
- Black and white only, forces you to think about light and shadow
- Swap phones and shoot with someone else's device for a fresh eye
- 30-second challenge, one shot per location, no retakes
The constraint of a theme focuses your scatterbrain into a useful superpower. You'll notice things everyone else walks past.
The Worldwide Photo Walk, started by Scott Kelby in 2007, is the largest global social event for photographers, over 25,000 people in 1,000+ cities walk on the same day.
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