Focalplayn's Blog

#WWPW winner

darrellstrickland — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:08:42 +0000

Eric Bartlet

Congratulations Eric Bartlett for winning the 4th Annual Worldwide Photowalk! Eric’s image was a great mix of post processing, composition and an excellent story. Perfect urban street photography.

Garry Spencer

This was a very tight race so I wanted to point out the unofficial runner up. Garry Spencer’s image also told an amazing story and had an amazing emotional appeal. Great job Garry.

There were a lot of excellent entrants this year making my job a very hard one. Congratulations to everyone who entered!

Deadline

darrellstrickland — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:33:47 +0000

Hi guys,

Don’t forget that tomorrow (oct 7) is the deadline for submitting your photowalk images. No exceptions!

After the walk. What’s next

darrellstrickland — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:31:57 +0000

After the Photo Walk

Once your walk is over, you will be able to log on to the Worldwide Photo Walk website, and submit your best photo from the event to the contest. While submitting a photo to the contest is not required, there are lots of great prizes available to the winners!

You can also share photos from their Photo Walk on the Official Worldwide Photo Walk Flickr Group. Photos from events all around the world will be shared here so the entire community can see the global event they were part of. These photos are not part of the competition, but a great way for everyone to share their experience with the rest of the world.

Don’t forget the Focal Play’n has it’s own Flickr site as well. So please feel free to upload your best photos for everybody to see and comment on. You can find out site here. But remember that only the one shot uploaded to the Worldwide Photo walk site will be eligible for the contest.

Walkers will have until 12:00 noon EDT October 7th to submit their best photo to the contest. After that, leaders will have until 12:00 noon EDT October 10th to choose the winning photo from your walk.

If you have any questions, you can always drop us a line at focalplayn@gmail.com

Happy editing

Whoa what a day!!

darrellstrickland — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:10:21 +0000

The 4th Annual World wide Photowalk (#WWPW) has come and gone and what an action packed weekend it was!!

Sunrise Shoot

A few of us brave souls got up at 5:00am for a sunrise shoot at Cape Spear. I was expecing an overcast morning, perfect for a spectacular sunrise, but when I left Mount Pearl, the Stars were out and the sky was crystal clear. When I arrived at Cape Spear there were a few clouds in the sky but as soon as the sun started to rise, we were closed in by fog on all sides. So while I didn’t capture any typical sunrise photos, the light was still fantastic and I got some great shots of the old lighthouse.

Official Photowalk

At 2:00pm we met up again for the Official Photowalk. A few more of us came out this time, but a few less than I expected. That’s good news for the photographers who did show up, it increases their odds of at least winning the local prize.

Everybody seem to have their own route to getting to the restaurant and it seems that everybody got some fantastic shots. This year I thought I’d try some candid photography and simple portraits.Yet I still haven’t been able to muster up the courage to either just shoot a stranger without permission, or ask permission and then shoot. And unfortunately, I saw a lot of fantastic characters on the streets. I did shoot a few, but I think I missed more opportunities than I took. I did find this guy shooting me. He was creating a collection of all of the people who photograph his house.

An Evening at Cape Spear

After the sun went down the real fun began. A few of us brave souls, ventured back to Cape Spear for a second time in one day. This time we headed straight for the battery armed with steel wool, kitchen utensils and a ball of string.

The idea is that fine steel wool is flammable enough to burn and create sparks. When you spin it on a string, it can create some amazing light painting opportunities.

For this shot, my camera is on a tripod set with a wireless remote. My camera is set to f8 and 25sec. Once the steel wool is lit and spinning, the shutter is opened. Once the wool burns out, it is pitch black in the tunnel so the exact shutter speed is not critical. Just long enough to grab some spectacular sparks. Protective clothing is a must, especially for your hands, the string really burns when you spin it.

Sunrise shoot is a go

darrellstrickland — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 08:11:32 +0000

The #WWPW sunrise shoot at Cape spear is good to go. Sunrise is at 7am this morning. I’ll be there just after 6.

Two more sleeps til #WWPW

darrellstrickland — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:29:03 +0000

Only a few days left before the 4th Worldwide Photowalk! We still have a few spots open for Saturday, so if you have not already registered, now is the time. Go on, I’ll wait. http://worldwidephotowalk.com/walk/st-johns-nl-canada-downtown/

Like every year, this will be a full day event for Focal Play’n. For the early birds, we will meet at Cape Spear at 0630. Yes, that’s in the morning on a weekend, we’re crazy! Saturday is supposed to be overcast, so it’s perfect weather for sunrise shots. After the sun is fully up, we’ll head off for breakfast, possibly Bagel Cafe.

For this shoot, better bring a tripod for a sharp shot and a wide lens is handy.

We’ll meet again at 2:00 at the Bascillia for the Official Photowalk, which will clue up at 4:30 at Jungle Jims for dinner and beers.

We’re going to be doing a lot of walking for the official walk, so pack light. No tripods and a minimum number of lens. What you take is up to you, but I’m not carrying your gear.

The weather for Saturday is calling for some overcast skies and 30% chance of rain. But Sunday is expected to be worse. The WWPW will go ahead on Saturday regardless of weather. We can not afford to push it off until Sunday only to have worse weather. We only have a two day window.

Finally we we will again at 10:00pm at Cape Spear for a night time photoshoot. If it’s a clear night we can shoot star trails or if its overcast we can practice our light painting.

For the night shoot, a tripod is a must. A cable release or some way of locking your shutter open is handy. Also think about things to light paint with. Sparklers, glow sticks, steel wool and flashlights are great. String is also useful for creative painting.

If you have any questions about equipment, directions or anything else, please let us know.

See you all there on Saturday!

Darrell Strickland

746-2565

www.focalplayn.com

Photowalk T-Shirts are available!

darrellstrickland — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:01:43 +0000

The official World Wide Photowalk T-shirts are available! 100% of the proceeds to towards the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya so there is not reason not to pick one up.

You can get them from the Towner Jones Photography Store at Cafe Press.

Order your now so you’ll have it for the October walk!

New lighting magazine avaiable

darrellstrickland — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:56:36 +0000

Scott Kelby has just announced the release of a all new digital magazine released for the iPad on photography lighting.

Scott has created a little video to explain it all. Check it out in the itunes store.

Stunning Street Portraits

darrellstrickland — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:10:52 +0000

I found this article, 5 Tips For Capturing Great Street Portraits over on DPS, and thought it would be appropriate with the upcoming World Wide Photowalk coming up. While looking around over there I found this article, 13 Tips for Improving Outdoor Portraits.

4th Annual Worldwide Photowalk Announced

darrellstrickland — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:11:53 +0000

The 4th Annual Worldwide Photowalk has been announced! You can check out all of the details over at Scotts blog. For a bit of a change of pace, this years walk will take place October 1&2.

Focal Play’n has already registered downtown St. John’s for Saturday the first, but we can move to Sunday weather permitting. You can register for the event here. Better hurry up, space is limited.

I’ll have more details in the days to follow.

Darrell