On 26 September, I met two participants at the main gate of the Adelaide Botanic Garden for the first edition of EyesForAdelaide: The City.
We spent the first five or six minutes chatting about what each person was hoping to get out of the walk before setting off towards the railway station.
One participant had a smartphone. The other brought a mirrorless camera. Neither was a professional photographer, and they had different reasons for being there, which made it all the more fun!
I don’t teach a particular photography technique during these walks. I’m more interested in talking about and showing how I see, what I notice and how I photograph it.
As we walked, I photographed things that caught my attention and showed the back of my camera to the participants each time. We talked about composition, photographing familiar subjects differently, looking for details instead of always making wide photographs, and what an image can become with some editing on a smartphone.
One of the participants wasn’t particularly comfortable photographing people in public spaces, which led to a conversation about photographing people, what happens when somebody notices you, and what you can say or do if someone approaches you.
There was no requirement for everyone to stay together and photograph the same thing. They were free to stop and make their own photographs.
Time flew.
At some point, I checked the time and realised that if we wanted to reach the railway station and the bridge at the end of the walk in time for the sunset, we needed to move just a little faster. I hadn’t expected that we would need more than two hours simply to get from the starting point to the closing point, which was great feedback.
The weather stayed overcast for most of the afternoon, thankfully, with just about two minutes of drizzle. Once we reached the water, because of the overcast sky, the blue hour was very blue, and the reflections and ripples became some of my favourite photographs from the walk.
I’m planning to clean up some of these images in Photoshop and make them available as prints.
The walk also reminded me that EyesForAdelaide isn’t really about ticking off Adelaide landmarks. It’s about slowing down enough to notice things that are easily overlooked, and having someone beside you who is looking at the same city in a different way.
One participant told me afterwards that they normally don’t leave home on weekends. Their weekdays are busy and noisy, and they usually prefer staying home, cooking and listening to music. They were trying to get out more and meet people. Which I thought was a lovely thing for them to share with me.
Both mentioned that they’d had a great time and gave me some wonderful feedback. This was my first ever independent photo walk! I have done one previously in New Delhi with Adobe India, but hadn’t done any independently and now that I’ve done my first, I’m wondering why I didn’t start sooner!
What I want these walks to be: a couple of hours spent looking at Adelaide, making photographs, asking questions, talking about photography and getting candid answers from me about how I work and how I see.
Sometimes you’ll come with a camera. Sometimes you’ll come with a phone. You don’t need to be a professional photographer.
You just need to be curious & ready to have some fun!
Want to join the next EyesForAdelaide photo walk?
I announce new dates through the EyesForAdelaide WhatsApp announcement group. Join the group to hear about the next edition before it happens.
