Seattle Photo Walk (with Scott Bourne)
Tue, May 19, 2009
On May 16th, 2009 pro-photographer and podcaster Scott Bourne organized a photo walk in downtown Seattle. The walk was limited to 20 people and I was one of the lucky ones who woke up early enough the day he twittered about it to actually get my name on the list.
Scott kept the location of the walk a secret until the day before the walk. This was likely due to the fact that in addition to the 20 that initially signed up, there were 50-60 people also sitting on a waiting list. The secret location turned out to be Pike Place Market. We were given instructions to meet under the big clock @ 9:30 am and as luck would have it, the weather turned out to be fantastic.
Top Secret Meeting Place
The market was a brilliant choice of location because there were a lot of interesting things to photograph and it allowed for some interesting photography challenges that could also be turned into great learning opportunities.
Scott comes to photo walks fully-packin'
Challenge #1 – The Lighting
I was praying that the walk would have nice weather, but it was almost too sunny. The sun was very bright and since we were shooting from 9:30 am until 11:30 am, it was fairly high in the sky. To top it off, Pike Place is a very open market that is partially under cover and partially exposed. This created a very high contrast situation when shooting in covered parts. It was challenging to get a proper exposure balancing that fill with the giant ball of fire shining down outside. It forced me to try a lot of things and go into spot metering mode – normally I live in evaluative.
Fill flash was too hot
Scott obviously saw me struggling and gave me some tips on a achieving the right balance (spot metering, stopping down flash etc.). He also gave me this very blunt advice. Sometimes the background is going to burn out – nothing you can do about it! I am sure he offered these pearls of wisdom to quite a few people that day.
Finally got it right - took about 20 frames
Challenge #2 – The Crowds
It was a sunny day and the Seattle Cheese festival was also happening at the same time. This meant big crowds. The good – lot’s of subjects to shoot. The bad – lots of people walking in your way when you are trying to get a shot. This made timing everything and provided some great practice opportunities. I won’t lie, I have about 10 frames with very blurry, large heads about 20 inches from my lens.
Challenge #3 – Inspiration
Covering a really small area for 3 hours straight can get you really thinking about the different types of shots you can take. It forces you to start thinking outside the box a little. This is where being there is a group of avid photographers can really help. I watched what others were shooting and tried to get some of their shots myself.
Other knowledge nuggets from Scott:
He brought along one of Rick Sammon’s Wescott lighting kits and showed us proper techniques for using diffusers and reflectors in harsh sunlight. He also told some stories of how he had overcome similar lighting situations during professional shoots he was on.
He spoke about the benefits of the larger lumiquest soft box he had on his SB 900 and the flash mounted beauty ring he was evaluating.
Scott was a gracious host, and made an effort to speak with (and give advice to) everyone attending. And he did it all free of charge. Very kind of him if I must say. He also let a younger teenaged participant hold onto (and try out) his Nikon D3. A trusting move that had the guy grinning from ear-to-ear (picture here Inkheart ). Handing over the primary shooting camera to a complete stranger is not something you will often see a pro photographer do.
At the end of the day, Scott even gave out some free prizes. If you follow Scott on Twitter, you will know this is true Scott Bourne style.
Time to hand out the goodies to a lucky few
If you want to see shots from the photowalk, you can search the Flickr tag seattlephotowalk. Also, here are some of the sets from people that attended (myself included). If you were there and I missed you, send me a message so I can add your shots to the list.
Scott Bourne (1) Scott Bourne (2)
Tags: photography
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