I'm extremely humbled...

and very honored. I think many of you know that I participated in Scott Kelby's 2nd annual World Wide Photowalk 2 weeks ago. Several of you were with me. And many of you also know (because I haven't shut up about it) what a fantastic time I had, and that it was an incredibly fun day. We walked for the better part of 9 hours all over China Town, Union Station, and Olvera Street. We wandered together shooting, sharing, talking, laughing, and teaching. We shot in some places as a group, and in many places we each found something that intrigued only us. And it was all okay. We waited while everyone found and shot what they were looking for and then headed off as a group. I got to know some of you very well, and am a better person for the experience. So much so, that Jeffery Saddoris and I are organizing our own walk on 8/29 in Venice and we hope you'll be able to attend.


At this point your probably wondering why I am writing another post about the walk. Didn't I just do last week? Yes. But the walk has left an indelible mark on me. I did it as much for the camaraderie than I did for the pictures. And yet, in my mailbox yesterday, they crowned a winner of our shoot. There were more than 30,000 photographers participating in 900 walks all over the world. Each local walk would crown a winner, and that winner will be entered into the world wide pool of winners, and 1 Grand prize winner and 10 honorable mentions will be selected. Say hello to the Chinatown walk winner. I actually first heard I'd won on Twitter. What an amazing little program that is, but I will save that for another post.

The winning image is the one you see here. We started our walk at 8am, while Chinatown was still sleeping. It was very calm and peaceful, which was exactly what I'd seen when I noticed the reflections of the lanterns in this Koi pond. To say I'm honored is an understatement. I am truly humbled. There were so many great images, and again, I was already a winner just by participating.

Damon Webster, our walk leader and host of http://www.photoinduced.com/ had this to say about my image, "The winner was chosen for the depiction of Chinatown, and a feeling that it gave of a culture in its delicate reflections and composition. I could almost hear the music of a Ruan when viewing it. Congratulations Frank "

Of course, my wife has a way of making sure I don't get a big head when she said "so now your up against all the other winners from around the world. There are a lot of places much more beautiful"

Thanks honey!

Many more images shot by myself and the other Chinatown walkers can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1175978@N21/pool/

Coming up this week in class:

Monday night lecture

Tuesday night model shoot, in a brand new location (I heard you all say "Finally!")

Wednesday night Engagement shoot, bring your gear.

Have a great week, and see you soon!

Frank