A day for Phuket’s shutterbugs
The 40 participants in last year's Phuket (Talad Yai) Photo Walk were a mixed bunch, but had one thing in common - big smiles.
July 24 has been set as the date for this year’s Third Worldwide Photo Walk and, as with last year, Phuket will be joining in with at least one walk.
The worldwide effort is the brainchild of Scott Kelby, a Florida-based photographer who is also the president of the US National Association of Photoshop Professionals – so he knows a bit about taking pictures, and how to fix them afterwards. In the first year, there were walks in 236 locations, with 8,324 people taking part. Last year the numbers leaped to more than 900 locations and 32,000 people.
There’s no charge for joining your local walk. Afterwards, each photographer may enter one picture in a local competition (though there is no obligation to do so if you don’t want to). The walk leader chooses the best of these to be entered for the worldwide competition, with Kelby choosing the overall winner and 10 “honorable mentions”. There is also a “People’s Choice” winner, selected by those who took part in walks.
Thailand tops them all: Last year's winner - worldwide - was "Can't stop smiling", shot at the floating market in Amphawa, Samut Songkram, by Bossakorn Buena.
Both the overall winner and the People’s Choice winner get one year’s free online training from Kelby’s company Kelby Training. The overall winner also gets a voucher for US$1,000 to spend with Adorama (a sort of Amazon.Com for photographers). The People’s Choice winner gets a US$750 voucher and the honorables each get US$250 vouchers.
Last year Phuket had two walks, one mostly (though by no means exclusively) “farang” and one mostly Thai. This year, so far, there’s only the farang one, but it’s early days so keep an eye out for a Thai one, if that’s your preference.
Phuket’s only walk (so far) is being organised again by pro shooter Karim “Kim” Khamzin. To enter, go here. The walk, in Phuket Town, is limited to 50 people – first come, first served. Kim will choose the winning picture (as leader, he’s disqualified from entering his own pictures – which is only fair).
For inspiration, go here for the top photos from the past two years. There’s a video here of the walk Kim organised last year.
Even if you have only a little point-and-shoot digicam and no intention of entering the competition, this is a great way to meet likable people and make new friends, and to see the town with a fresh eye. Call it Facebook with real human beings, or Twitter with mouths instead of keyboards.
Ha Ha, Facebook with real human beings! See you there!