Photo Courtesy of Jason Fredin

This past Sunday found 14 “total strangers” meeting at an East London coffee house in anticipation of an eventful day. Converging on the streets of a historical London community these 14 photographers took 2 hours out of their day to walk, talk and photograph this unique area of town.

Drawing a number of questions, comments and inquiries from the locals of the area, these 14 photographers were always happy to answer the question of “Why?” with “Why Not?”. Having the opportunity to get “out of the house”, meet new people and explore the city I call home is always good enough reason for me to take a photo. The presence of the photographers themselves in the area was definitely topic of discussion for many who live near by.

Shooting subjects of the day ranged everything from gutted cars, bricks, mannequins to the photographers themselves. Some photographers chose to shoot only in HDR while others took the time and care to stage shots, many of us walked along shooting while we talked.

These photographs were linked together by conversations that spanned a good portion of Dundas street, talk to chat amongst each other, learn a little bit about the history in the are and what changes are anticipated in the future. Since in the near future East London is slated to go through a number of changes many of us felt it be appropriate that we take the time to document and experience this area of town before any changes occur.

With the exception of a couple of overlooked details (meeting place, ending time and perhaps a “formal agenda”) I personally believe that this day was a complete success. Far more people showed up than I thought would and I had the opportunity to put some handshakes to faces while at the same time getting introduced to others in the community. I regret not having the opportunity to talk in depth to each and every person, however, if this were to happen again I am sure more conversations would arise.

The day has been documented through pictures (fitting, isn’t it?) which can be found all over Flickr. Tagged with “lopw” and collected into an “Official” London PhotoWalk Group these pictures exist for the community to enjoy (and in some cases use with CC) and to spark conversation. ((As a side note: the City of London has started a Flickr group that some of the local photographers might find use for to also share their photos in.)) Perhaps in the future if things take off a website might appear dedicated to this, but we will have to wait and see.

So from here where do we go? Do people want to do it again, and if so when, where, how often? Lets keep the chatter going as I know there are other people interested that were unable to make it out this time.

This post was originally posted on From My Bottom Step: a local source of news about London, Ontario. For the original article please CLICK HERE.