BRATTLEBORO — For the second time, photographers in Windham County will take part in Scott Kelby's annual Worldwide Photo Walk Day, this year Saturday, Oct. 5, starting at 9 a.m. off Flat Street in the alleyway between the Transportation Center and the Vermont Center for Photography
According to Tom Singleton, who'll be leading this second annual photo walk through downtown Brattleboro, all that's needed is a camera and the desire to take photos in Brattleboro.
Participants may shoot panoramas, high-dynamic-range images, black-and-white photos, or apply digital effects such as creating collages or retro-filters from Instagram.
Competition is not required of walk participants.
The event's website notes the free walk is open to those of all ages and abilities, and is a social photography event where photographers get together, “usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town, to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.”
“Ability doesn't matter. It's just a chance to get together with like-minded people to walk in and around Brattleboro and discover photographic opportunities,” Singleton says.
Kelby's loose-knit group of organizers has established photo walks across the world. Twenty-eight thousand people participated in more than 1,000 photo walks in 2012.
Photo walks are limited to 50 photographers.
According to the event announcement, participants will be given a website to which they can upload their image files if they want to enter the photo contest. The local winner will receive a free book from Scott Kelby and will move on to compete in the global photo contest.
A top prize is awarded by Kelby to the best overall photo taken that day. He also will pick photos for 10 finalist prizes. Participants will award one People's Choice award.
The project website's FAQ asks, in part, “Did anyone complain last year about how the winners were chosen?”
The answer: “Absolutely. People get pretty cranked if they think their image deserved to be the winner and wasn't chosen, but Scott's been one of the Photoshop World Guru Awards judges for 10 years, along with judging other competitions over the years, so he's kind of used to that response.”