Monday, June 6, 2011

photowalk with @yourwaitress

One of the too many things I did the past few days was hook up with Oakland photographer your waitress, aka Valerie Cochran. I mentioned her and the great photo exhibit she had in my review of Commonwealth Cafe and Pub. Six friends, old and new, joined her for her last photowalk around Oakland before she moves to Missouri.

We met at The Trappist to give everyone a chance to get there, and had a beer while we waited. Thankfully the rain held off, though we had flat, gray lighting for most of our walk. After a quick stroll around the block in Old Oakland, we wandered through Chinatown. Even on a gray Sunday afternoon, there's a lot of color in Chinatown and a lot going on, so it makes for an interesting place to take pictures.

Valerie was flexible on the route, but did have some definite things she wanted to do, like get a treat at one of the many Chinese bakeries (I'm guessing there will be fewer in Missouri.) We also walked with the vague destination of the Oakland Museum, either to check out a photo exhibit or to wander around the museum grounds. The fact it was the first Sunday and free was an added draw.

One of the great things about shooting with other photographers is that different people see differently, different things catch their eye, and they choose to shoot a subject differently. So you can have 7 people walking through the same area and come up with 7 different views of a thing. After you've done this a number of times, you get to know what a person is likely to shoot, but this was my first time shooting with any of these people.

We have some things in common (e.g., we're all interested in photography), but only some of us live in Oakland, some shot film (which "sees" light differently) and some shot with digital, and so I'm looking forward to seeing more of the photos the others took. I'll update this post as I get links to more. And I'm looking forward to future photowalks with them, even if Valerie will be a less frequent participant after her move.

more of my photos:
your waitress photowalk

Check out some photos the others took:
Peter
Martin
Dave 1, 2, 3
Valerie 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Victoria
Shannon

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