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DPChallenge Forums >> Side Challenges and Tournaments >> November Walkabout -- Posting Thread
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11/21/2007 01:48:28 PM · #1
Post your November Walkabout Pictures here!

Looking for extraordinary photos in ordinary places. Complete details on the challenge here.

Here’s the place to post your pictures.

A few reminders:

1. Your picture must be taken between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. (local time) on a single day during the challenge period, November 22-25.

2. Post up to five images here. All images should be uploaded in a single post.

3. Try to include a little narrative in your post, telling us how/why you chose your starting spot, where you went, what you did, and how or why you found the images you did.

4. Please try to comment on as many images you can during the coming week (Nov. 26-30). Commenting on this challenge is as much fun as participating.

Optional Rules

Treasure Hunt – Found Object
The treasure for this month's walkabout is a Found Object, such as a child's toy or someone's shoe or glove, that doesn't belong to anyone you know. (thanks again to Pug-H for the suggestion)

November’s Personal Challenge – Eyes in the Back of Your Head
This month, when you find yourself captivated by a subject, after you are done shooting it, turn around 180 degrees and find another subject to shoot. Share what you find in your posts!

Have fun, and thanks for playing!
11/22/2007 09:16:08 PM · #2
Thank goodness we have all weekend to do the walkabout. Today it would be more like a waddleabout - I'm so full of turkey I couldn't operate a camera if I wanted to. :op
11/23/2007 03:40:32 PM · #3
Well I guess I am first. I went yesterday and I am glad I did. Today is overcast and yucky.

It was cold, so I made it a short trip. Out my front door this time (I usually leave by the back door and side gate) - anyway, down my front lawn and spotted this pampas grass blowing in the wind. Capturing it was a challenge all by itself, but one shot did it and this is just about a 100% crop making it a macro.


Onward to Hillside Nursery whose back lot is really on my street. There are two large oak trees there and I spotted some leaves left!


Pointing my camera upwards, here are two mighty oaks.


The sky was wonderfully blue yesterday, and here are more leaves - I think these are elm. The colors are what attracted me.


Lastly, buds that will never bloom...



11/23/2007 06:21:10 PM · #4
photomouse and I did our walkabout together at a lakeside park just a few blocks from our house. We frequently take the kids down there. For our walkabout we started at the park and journeyed down a path that goes along the shoreline. I am not sure what she is posting... hopefully there won't be many repeats.

First thing I captured was this kayaker. He was putting into the water as we arrived, so I asked if I could shoot a few shots after he launched.


My second worthy capture was this seagull that flew overhead. I can't resist a bird flying by, kinda silly that way. ;o)


My third photo covers both my "lost item" photo and my 180 photo. After taking the photo of the baseball, I turned around and didn't see anything interesting at first. Then I looked down at the asphalt path I'd been walking down and realized what a great texture it would make. So I overlayed it on this image. Came out a little darker than I wanted, but I think it adds some emotion, so I didn't adjust for it.


My last image for this challenge is an old building on a dock that extends out on the lake. Haven't a clue what its purpose may once have been, but it's beautifully dilapidated so I couldn't pass it by.


It was a very good day for me photowise. All of the photos I took required little editing, mostly only for glare from the water. I am pleased with every shot I took and doubly pleased I participated in this.

Jack
11/23/2007 06:59:01 PM · #5
Walked in the park nearby where I often go running. When I run I pay attention to the trail itself or the scenery as a whole or people and their dogs, but I am never able to focus on the details along the side of the path. Noticed these pods early during the walk. I've probably run right by them several hundred times without noticing them. They turned out to be the best thing I saw on my walk, so hope you don't mind that all five photos are thematically related.

(Today was also our first day of snow, although we did not get much.)
11/23/2007 07:16:48 PM · #6
Like jaxter said we did our walkabout together. We left the house and headed down to the water front park that is just a few blocks from the house.

I had an idea for my first shot, however it didn't come out quite like I had hoped. There are enclosed tennis courts and I wanted to get a shot from the corner and have the lines more in focus than they are in this, however I still like the look of this photo.


Next I started to walk towards the shore and noticed the same guy kayaking as jaxter. However he was already shooting photo's of him so I looked around and located my found object. Hope the parents of the child that lost this had a spare :).


After finding the pacifier, I turned around as saw these pretty yellow flowers, so this is my 180 photo.


Then I started to walk down the path towards the building on the pier. I had hoped that I could walk out on the pier and get some photo's, but the gate was locked :(.


About this time jaxter and I were starting to get cold, and decided to head back for home. This is the last shot I got looking back at where we had started.


I had a lot of fun doing this for my first side challenge. I look forward to doing it again!

Dawn

11/23/2007 08:58:25 PM · #7
I walked across the street from where I work. There is a feed and harware store there as well as pastures.

Grain elevator (?)


The side of one of the storage areas


Between three of the storage bins


Some trucks parked in the back area


A pasture with troughs.

It was colder today than yesterday but the clouds looked great.
11/24/2007 12:09:17 AM · #8
I wanted to do this challenge from my house, but it didn't work out that way...next month I suppose. I had to meet my boss at work today so he could return my key to me (I loaned it to his wife), but he was running late, and I just happened to have my camera with me (no surprise there), so I went for a walk from work.


This is me freezing cold, but I was prepared for the elements. This is right in front of my office, and was the beginning of my walk.


I wanted to shoot the pine trees this morning because they were so pretty all frosted over, but we went Black Friday shopping, so that didnt happen. I really like the starburst pattern on this one.


I love this photo, it reminds me of Christmas, and since today is the "official" first day of the Christmas season, it just makes me happy. =0)


As you can tell, someone had this flag duct taped to a delineator post, and I liked the way the photo came out.


This is my found item, I just saw this green bucket lying on the ground in a field, I have no idea who it belongs to, or how it got there.

This was so much fun, I can't wait to do it again next month! Thanks for this wonderful challenge. (Now to try and keep up with commenting)!

ETA: I did the same editing to all of these photos, adjust contrast, sharpen, add border, resize. No cropping, nothing else, I wanted to keep it simple.

Message edited by author 2007-11-24 00:25:07.
11/24/2007 05:47:47 PM · #9
I went somewhere I would never think about going for photography. It's the local strip mall. It houses the jiffy lube, credit union, coffee shop, hamburger joint. Americana. The best finds were at the building at the end of the strip, a Gymnastics studio.


This is the beginning of the walk. Behind the Credit Union and the ubiguitous donut/coffee shop.


Next to the Gym was this lovely lavender lawn furniture. Ready for iced tea and sunshine. Just a little snow to break the mood!


Found Item! Behind the Gym was this giant sad doll waiting to be carted away.


Turning 180. I was photographing the lovely snow on the trees back behind the Gym. I turned 180 and found this sign behind the garbage bin, all covered by snow. Lovely covered with snow.


I wandered to the other end of the strip mall. and found this gas meter. Something I would never think to photograph but I really like the colors and textures.

This was fun and got me out of my usual ideas of what to shoot.

LG
11/24/2007 06:59:06 PM · #10
On Thanksgiving morning, our family went out for a walk in foggy Vermont to enjoy the first substantial snow of the season.

My son James talked the entire way (very typical for him). He also hung with Dad the whole way as I stopped and shot various mundane objects along the way.


Hopefully it won't be long before these guys start moving people up the mountain.


Some of the ferns have not closed down for the season yet and are actually very vibrant green against the snow.


We stopped by the Brownsville General store to pick up some last minute items. This is the stream behind the store.


On the way back, it began to mist. The drops clung nicely to the pine needles. I just wish I had something other than my little P&S right now - it would have been fun to try some macro shots.


We then headed back to our place and started the turkey and all the fixin's. It was a good walk, not great weather, but we had a nice time and I got a couple of serviceable shots.


Message edited by author 2007-11-24 18:59:49.
11/24/2007 11:42:23 PM · #11
My wife and I went out for what we thought would be a sort walk this morning 4 and a half hours later here are some of the shots I came back with:

After taking some lackluster shots of most of the churches around the neighborhood we decided to get a coffee at this old converted fish market. They did a nice job preserving this old mural.



We then decided take a walk to the pond while taking some shots of moored sailboats I did my 180 and noticed a group of homeless sitting at a picnic table.



Walked down towards the marina and couldn’t resist taking some sailboat pics.



Stopped and exchanged greetings with this man who seemed a bit lonely.



By this time it was noon so we stopped in at a local German restaurant (still kicking myself for not inviting the man above). Came out after lunch and caught this guy having his lunch.



Had a great time.
11/25/2007 01:36:52 AM · #12
I went for my cold, cold, cold walkabout starting at the local store. I walked quite a bit and took some pictures and then turned around.

On the way back I wanted to get some pictures of a small pond. I wanted to take some pictures of the ice bubbles, but saw this frozen fishy instead (polarized sunglasses sure helped!):


This piece of equipment was sitting in the corner of the parking lot, most likely taking a break from diggin' at the Super Walmart site that will open in March:


I walked passed the store looking for patterns/shadows with the low sun and was not disappointed:


I then went around the parking lot and saw this thing blowing in the wind and it took quite a few shots to get one in focus. I was really surprised to see it at this time of year:


On my way back to the car this pole against the blue sky really stood out. I wished the lot were empty or I had time to get another angle but I was already out for about 1 1/2 hours and couldn't take the cold anymore:
11/25/2007 03:53:32 AM · #13
Today was a very very busy day for me and I was very very tempted not to do this!!!! I was absolutely exhausted after tea but it was a gorgeous early evening and I had the company of my oldest daughter.

First of all a couple of houses down I took this image I could'nt help myself and added a few textures :)



We stopped at the same bench that I took a photo of my younger daughter in the Oct walkabout took a photo



I live in a low socio economic area this is the local pub I would never go there!



Considering the area and the local youths that live around here I am surprised that this community garden is still intact



Now this is an interesting place. It is called the Naenae boxing academy it was started a couple of years ago but a local big time boxer. He takes in trubled youth and teaches them boxing and I guess all the disicipline etc that goes with it. When he first started up he comissioned these rock paintings there is about 40 of them of all sorts of different fabous boxers laced around the edge of the property in the garden I took this one because it did'nt have a plant in front of it apparantly this is Ruby Rob from
late 19th century



Will get to commenting in the next couple of days :)
11/25/2007 06:59:45 AM · #14
I almost forgot about this challenge (again...), but this afternoon I was pondering what to do next with around 40 minutes of light left in the day and I remembered...

So I grabbed my D200... attached the 28-75 and made some rules for myself. I decided to work with shallow depth of field (not only because of the failing light but because I don't often work with it), I also decided that I would only shoot 5 consective frames, no more, and that they would be processed in the same manner. So... I set out.

As I was walking along I came across a smashed lightbulb on the footpath, so that started my theme for the day... the urban environment.



Next I wound my way through some backstreets I don't often go down and came across people drying their washing on strings attached every-which-way. I decided again that this would work for my shallow depth of field criteria and grabbed the following frame.



Continuing up that road I came across these oil drums leading up to a car at the top of the hill... I would have kept going, but there was a rather large dog at the top of the hill that disagreed with me.



Finally, on the way home I swang back through some other streets and got a frame of this chicken shop...



These were the only frames I shot today, and they were all sequential. The fifth frame was actually a concrete wall I used to texture the other 4.

All post processing was done using hue/sat layers to desaturate, the texture and cross processing layers.
11/25/2007 07:34:17 AM · #15
Well, I failed this assignment... ;-Þ

First, I didn't even sign up for it, then I uploaded pictures from my trip into Tokyo today, so it's not a bunch of local scenes or extraordinary photos from ordinary places.
I did take some yesterday (Saturday), but they were also not in my local vicinity - but they do come closer to the idea of the Walkabouts.
Anyway, I went to Asakusa for a boardgame event, which is just near the famous Asakusa temples. It is an area I'm quite familiar with. ;-Þ

In the main hall of Sensoji Temple, some fortune-telling selections...

A man who belongs to some art club that was on a painting excursion to Asakusa...(these last four photos were with my fish-eye zoom)

Incense.

Korean tourists

Street scene with clown
11/25/2007 01:18:25 PM · #16
Busy busy 4 day weekend, starting with 28 people over at our house for Thanksgiving, and lots of get togethers with family and friends in town for the holidays, but I managed to squeeze in a walkabout yesterday morning. My brother was having people over for brunch at his house, so I decided to walk the long way around to his house, down a street and then along a bike/walking path by some open space that I've looked at from afar but rarely walked through before.

It was still early as I walked down the street, and saw lots of shadows playing around, including this interesting image on a house down a cul-de-sac across from where I was walking:


Shortly after that, I turned onto the walking path and was struck by the way the light caught this tree, giving an almost neon glow to its leaves:


Heading up the path, I veered off on to the dirt for a bit, and noticed this dirt path going down a steep hillside -- the path actually cuts down to the open space from my street, and I've scrambled down it a few times before.


The path leads to this little pond, which I've never walked up to before, but which was alive with birds and light this morning as the homes looked down on it from the hillside above:


Then I checked my watch and we were already late for brunch, so I made a beeline over the hill, stopping for a moment to grab some pics of this scene, with the brushy grasses catching the light amidst the dark greenery around it:


All in all a nice walk down a path I've ignored before, and glad I made the time to do it this month. I did find a few objects for the treasure hunt, but the pictures were just quick snaps that didn't make it in my top 5. Lots of good looking pics this month ... looking forward to taking the time to walk through them and leave some comments this week.
11/25/2007 01:24:57 PM · #17
I had Thanksgiving with my parents who live on the other side of Fort Myers from me. While my Son and Dad watched football I wandered around the small island they live on. Before I left their condo, I snapped this while sitting on their balcony.

[thumb]616518[/thumb]

Just out side their building, I found this. I like the way the sidewalks goes through the photo as well as the palms. I am experimenting with Photomatix, so please excuse the watermarks! A gusty wind was blowing which made for challenging processing.

[thumb]616521[/thumb]

I caught this cliche and couldn't resist.

[thumb]616522[/thumb]

There was a slightly leaning palm tree next to this building and I worked quite a while, trying various compositions until I ended up lying on my back, hiding the worse part of the reflected glare behind the palm and repeating the angular part of the building and the palm fronds by the cloud.

[thumb]616523[/thumb]

Finally, I wandered through the Banyan grove and found this. Another experiment with photomatix.

[thumb]616525[/thumb]
11/25/2007 08:38:24 PM · #18
Went to my mother's home in Eureka for T-Day, and had to wait until I got home (Sat) to even view my photos. I started out from her front door and this was my first stop -
The Watcher:
Next stop was this backyard scene - Empty Nest:
Then I wandered into the Moose Lodge compound and found these mushrooms - Shrooms:
Finally I wandered into a small forest and took these - Forest:
and I turned around to find my opposite shot for this series - Trees:
11/25/2007 10:09:21 PM · #19
I just did a quick walk-about in my neighborhood between shuttling the better half to the sales. This time, instead of going straight, I turned right out of our cul-de-sac.

Our neighbor's red maple was just glorious (two days later, it is missing at least half of its leaves, and the remaining ones are a very dull red, not the bright color here).


Across the street, a squirrel was busy gathering food for the winter - his cheeks are full, and he's a plump one - all ready for the winter snows.


At the end of the street, there is a gazing ball backed by the unpointed brick back of our subdivision (Casa Grande) sign. I liked the color of the ball, combined with the texture of the plant & brick.

Directly behind me was a pine tree on the opposite side of the entrance. I took several shots of it, but liked the pine cone best.


On the way back home to get the van, I spotted a child's ride-on toy that looked like it had crashed into a pile of leaves (thought it looked like fun, but figured I'd either break the buggy, or have the parents come screaming out of the house, so I refrained).


Thanks again for the opportunity to participate.

Message edited by author 2007-11-25 22:15:01.
11/26/2007 06:40:38 AM · #20
This was a lot of fun. Invited my friend robinssong over to my parents for Thanksgiving. After stuffing ourselves we went for a walk in the woods behind my parents house. Here are my photos from the walkabout.

Bee cleaning himself up from eating [thumb]616877[/thumb]

Dead palm leaf [thumb]616878[/thumb]

Pods of some sort [thumb]616879[/thumb]

Pink flower [thumb]616880[/thumb]

Tree Frog [thumb]616881[/thumb]

Will come back later to comment.
11/26/2007 05:01:57 PM · #21
Sunday, November 25th. My mom's neighborhood which is probably as familiar as any area I know as I lived here for the first 27 years of my life. :)


In the driveway. Pretty self-explanatory. :)


These guys were coming out of pods very similar to the ones posted several posts up. I had been noticing them all fall, and never stopped to take their picture. The pods look like something off of Jimmy Neutron or other Sci-Fi story.


He looks harmless of enough, but when you are concentrating on taking pictures of science fiction looking pods, and this furry little guy jumps on you -- yea, well, it was scary. He is my "found object" not because I found him, but because he found me. He continued the rest of my trek with me.


Some undergrowth along side the road


My mom's porch swing. . . .
11/27/2007 11:48:18 PM · #22
Hello everyone remember when I posted this?

"Hello all I know that I didn't have any time to comment last month because of work but I would love to be counted in for this month if you'll still have me. (PLEASE) I will do better with the comments I promise. Work has not slowed down but I will make time:-}"

Well this time I never even had the time to go out and shoot, not because of work but due to the loss of our dear friend Karen. Karen took ill again with breast cancer something the Dr. told she was "FREE" of at her last app. in September. Karen passed on Tuesday last week and her funerial was on Saturday so I guess you know where I was.

Now I post this here because I had the opertunity to shoot on Saturday but for an entirely different reason and I would like to tell you because it is dear to my hreat and always will be.

TCGURU posted a thread asking for people to be involved in a shoot for a Breast Cancer survivors calendar I had been watching the and it had been my intention to ask Karen for the moment I saw the post. Now with Karen in hospital and with now hope in sight for her I just watched the thread. At the last moment we needed some shots to fill the calendar and I posted that I could try to help even though Karen had passed (after all there are lots of women who continue to win this fight) I knew plenty of people I could try.

My first phone call landed me my model and I was able to get a shot for the calendar and so did a couple other wonderful people on this site. The end result is posted here //calendarsforthecure.blogspot.com/
and if you have time I would like all of you to have a look and tell us what you think of our efforts.

My (walkabout) shot is Back cover Sharon and Jim Foster.

A lot of hard work and miles went into this so we hope you like it.

Sorry EstimatedEyes for the Hijack of your thread.

I will still do my best to comment on your shots. I've had a look at them and they are great. Nice jod by everyone so far.

All the best.

MAX!

Dance free, Karen

Message edited by author 2007-11-27 23:49:37.
11/29/2007 05:00:46 PM · #23
Sad to hear of your friends passing. I checked out the photos from your link and they are absolutely beautiful. I had hoped I could have participated in the calendar because my mom is a breast cancer survivor since 1996 but they had enough folks step up to the plate. Which I was happy to see and they did a way better job than I could of. Breast cancer definately changes your life. It is always in my mind, especially since two years ago they saw that it has moved to my mom's lungs. She has tried one treatment and it seemed to work for two years. Now the treatment is not working and she is trying the next treatment and running further tests to make sure it hasn't gone anywhere else. Where can we get a hold of the calendar?
11/30/2007 07:27:05 PM · #24
Hey Quigley, sorry to hear about your loss ... no apologies needed on the hijack. You've captured a nice testament to your friend with the calendar picture you shot. Hope to see you back for the next walkabout.

---

I'm slowly making my way through the shots. Comments seem to be a bit lighter this month, so everyone should feel free to jump in and comment if you haven't yet had time to get to it, especially on the later posts. And don't forget to post your favorites to the Hall of Fame thread
12/04/2007 12:51:24 PM · #25
Pug-H has spoken, and the winner of this month's treasure hunt is .... drum roll please .... jaxter for this baseball he found lying around waiting for another summer:



Congratulations, Jack ... and thanks to everyone who participated. See you all next time.
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