Today I celebrate alone the 10the Anniversary of the formation of Putrajaya Photowalk which I set up way back on the 7th August 2012. We have 384 members but it seems no one is free. No matter what happens, I still enjoy the Photowalk either alone or with a few friends who still enjoy walking together and looking out for great shots.
For me, Photowalk is part of my lifestyle now because I always have a camera on my smartphone. Whenever and wherever I walk, I will take photos. It is a form of pictorial documentary of my life.
Below is a note I wrote a few years ago on how I got involved in Photowalk.
Looking at the size of their cameras and the branded models, I quickly hide my camera inside my bag. This is the first time I attended Scott Kelby Photowalk led by Raja Indra Putra(Ripi). I kept quiet and just went with the flow…
Before we start walking, Ripi briefed us about our route and where to go snooping/snapping photos. He also cautioned us to be careful while walking in certain areas of Chow Kit Road, Kuala Lumpur and when/where to meet at the end of the Photowalk. Being a newbie, I followed experienced fellow photographers to stay safe and get good street photos as we walked to our destination.
Ripi is a good Manager in hosting a Photowalk. I leant a lot from him. Later, I hosted a few photos walks in Putrajaya where I guided my photog friends to take photos of beautiful locations in the Garden City of Putrajaya. Now, most of us do our own photo walks and share our photos at Putrajaya Photowalk Group.
After attending three big photowalks, I decided to join only a group of fewer than 10 people. It is more personal and ordinary folks will not feel intimidated when they see hundreds of photographers around them. Previously, I will roam around the targetted areas and look for something interesting to shoot. Nowadays, I select a location and wait for something to happen there. So far, it worked fine like the photo above. It was at KL Sentral Railway Station.
Photowalk is not limited only to taking photos.It is also about walking together and the conversations we have along the route and finally at the cafe at the end of the walk. By the way, the conversation and camaraderie extend to chats at our facebook messengers and Whatsapp groups.
Good luck is important in order to capture something unique like the one above. The family went to a Petition Writer for him to fill out the form and write a letter of application to government departments. Nowadays, it is once in a blue moon if you can see a scene like this.
The more we walk, the more we can see and the more we can snap photos.
If you don’t have a camera, use your mobile phone and join me at the Mobile Photography Malaysia Facebook Group. If we travel by plane, we can see the landscape from above; if we travel by car/train we can see the forest; if we travel by bicycle we can see the trees but if we walk we can stop and smell the flowers. The slower the speed we pass through a place, the more we see. Mathematically speaking, the quantity of what we see is inversely proportional to our speed.
This is another example of what I learned from my Photowalk. When we encounter something of interest to us, take time to explore and examine its beauty and don’t be too eager to take out our camera to snap a shot.No matter how good your camera or your photography, nothing beats the real things-be it sunset, flower, people etc.
What caught my attention from these buskers are their white hats. They were performing at the Alamanda Restaurant area.IMHO, these musicians are great entertainers. They should be paid by the Shopping Complex Management to entertain us, customers. How did I get the top views of the group performing with a clean background?I looked around and saw a mezzanine floor nearby. So,I climbed the stairs and got this shot!
Whenever I am with my camera and walking on the road, I am photo walking on my own.
