Do you like Trees? London? Pictures? Money? If you answered yes to any of these then this photo contest is for you.

ReForest London, a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to engaging individuals, groups and businesses in planting and caring for trees in neighbourhoods and natural areas throughout London is currently holding a photo contest dubbed London’s Amazing Tree Quest.

The Amazing Tree Quest is a city-wide contest to celebrate the important role that trees play in our lives. London is proud to be the Forest City, and our city is full of amazing trees. The contest allows individual Londoners (or anyone from anywhere) to nominate trees located in London, Ontario.

ReForest London hopes that as we deepen our appreciation for the individual trees that are important to us, we will value all the trees in our city. Caring for our amazing trees, and planting new trees for future generations, makes us a stronger, healthier community.

Tree contests like the Amazing Tree Quest have been held all over the world. Often call “Great Tree Quest,” other cities have also celebrated the cultural significance of their trees. Finding a city’s most significant trees can lead to heritage tree programs. London does have some trees marked as heritage trees, but the program has not been active for some time.

- ReForest London

This contest does not require participants to know anything about photography or trees, it simply requires participant to take simple pictures of trees that they find interesting.  With cash prizes up for grabs, no entry fee and being open to practically anyone, this is a great opportunity to highlight some of the greenery in London that you enjoy and get recognized for your photos at the same time.

Yesterday during the second installment of the London PhotoWalk we were lucky enough to have a pair of people who have worked with ReForest London (on their website) that gave more a little more information regarding this photo contest.  We urge you to read over the full contest rules and FAQ page so that you understand the requirements of this photo content (ie. no pictures of all of the cool carved tree trunks in London).

Here at londonphotowalk.ca we would be more than happy to post any entries made that win or are leading in a particular category.

Once again the ReForest London Amazing Tree Quest is a great way to practice your photography and highlight parts of London, Ontario that you enjoy.  The contest closes on July 31st, 2009 so you still have a couple of months to get your images submitted.  When you are out taking picture remember though, the trees have to be living so that rules out the fantastic metal trees in downtown London.

Sunday May 24th was the second London Ontario Photo Walk (#lopw on twitter). With photographers coming from Stratford, Cambridge, Kitchener and Barrie! This time around we walked through the beautiful and picturesque Wortley Village. Over 25 people turned out making the day just that much more enjoyable. It was a great time to meet some new people and take some great photos.

Afterward we all met back up at The Wortley Roadhouse bar and grill. Enjoyed a couple of drinks and learned more about each other and photography. LOPW is not just for professional photographers, we are a diverse group of beginners to experts, and there is always a chance to learn.

If you were at this month’s photowalk we would love to see your photos. We take advantage of the photo social networking site Flick’r. It is free to sign up and free to join our group. Once you are a member of our group you can add your photos and they will show up automatically on our site. You can also tag your photos with LOPW for easy searching for on lookers. Here is the link to our photo group on Flick’r:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/londonphotowalk/

Also if you were at the walk and use the popular micro-blogging social network Twitter, we would love to have your user name! (if you want to share that is). If you leave a comment below we will add your name to the list below:

Photo By: Paul McGrath

James W. – @jameswilk (http://jwilkinson.ca)
Kevin V. – @kevinvanlierop (http://kevinvanlierop.com)
Carolyn M. – @karolijn (http://karolijn.ca)
Will S. – @spaetzel (http://spaetzel.com)
Scott T. – @design4fun
Bill D. – @billdeys (http://deys.ca)
Grayson Li – @gsonli

If you enjoyed today we would like to see you out with us on July 18th for the World Wide Photowalk hosted world round! This is an event that you need to register for to be eligible for the prizes from the Kelby Media Group. So here is a link to the sign up:

http://worldwidephotowalk.com/london-on-ca/

And finally LOPW is all about getting together and meeting new people while learning and using photography. So we want to know what day, time, etc would be best for you to join us in a future photowalk. Simply answer the questions in our polls:

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We hope you enjoyed the photowalk and look forward to seeing you at the next one!

After talking over the past week to a number of people about the photowalk and why they should come out I have realized that many people may be discouraged about coming out for the walk for any number of reasons.

Some make comments that they do not know the first thing about photography, others that they do not have the expensive gear that is needed in order to produce some meaningful images.  Before I hear these two “excuses” anymore I want to try and dispel these rumors right here, right now.

Let me start with the second point, that expensive gear is needed to produce meaningful images.  This is the farthest thing from the truth and I have already commented on it in a previous post so instead of repeating myself take a look the post Photography: Not About Expensive Gear if you are thinking that your camera is the most important factor in creating great imagery.

Now to the first point, that people do not know the first thing about photography.  This is the perfect reason to come out for a photowalk in my mind.  I’m not going to lie; I don’t know all that much about photography and I find it overwhelming to say the least, but this is exactly the reason why I wanted to start a photowalk in London, so I could learn more about photography and practice with others who enjoy this hobby/profession as well.

It is true that there are so many things to think about: white balance, ISO speed, aperture setting, shutter speed, shot composition etc.  Personally I struggle day after day when taking photographs to try and remember what each setting does, how they interact with one another and when to change one setting over the next, but the fact of the matter is that I am not going to learn (nor is anyone else) if I don’t take the time to learn about all of the settings and what they do.

I would be lying if I said you could learn everything over night, because from personal experience I don’t think you can, but if you learn one new thing every time you are out for a photowalk that is 12 new things learned per year and I think thats a step in the right direction.

With that said, what better place to learn about about photography than from others that enjoy it much like you.  There is no pressure, no tests, no instructors to tell you that you are doing something wrong, all the photowalk offers is a group of people that enjoy taking photos (some professionals, most are not) and helping one another to produce images that highlight London.

Even after only have been (and have held) one photowalk I feel like I know a little bit more than I did before and this is exactly one of the reasons I am going to go it again in a weeks time.