One of the next London Photo Walks is scheduled to be held at the University of Western Ontario (UWO). Although this walk will take place after most students have left the campus, this Sunday morning walk in May will prove to be a beautiful one with the flowers and plants hopefully in full bloom.

The details for the walk are as follows:

Date: Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Time: 10:30am – 12:30pm

Location: University of Western Ontario

Starting Location: The Concrete Beach (See Map)

Route: Marked in BLUE on the map

Ending Location: Because it is the summer and we are not sure if any of the on-campus eateries will be open, we will determine an ending location closer to the date.

Parking: Typically the parking lot shown on the map is open and free during the summer (from past experience), however this cannot be guaranteed and as such you should be prepared to find and pay for parking if you are driving. You can CLICK HERE to check out Western’s Parking Services.

Buses: #6 Richmond, #13 Wellington #2 Dundas #10 Wonderland (plus many others)

We have been informed by some people that this date is actually Mother’s Day and as such there are other activities going on and some people might not be able to make the walk. Taking this into consideration we encourage everyone who wants to come out to bring their mother to enjoy (what should be) the great weather and beautiful scenery.

We are trying to arrange a guide for our tour that might be able to let us in to some “secret” areas of campus, details of this will come closer to the date if possible.

This walk will be taking place in conjunction with PodCamp London 2010 which is happening the day before on May 8th 2010.

When 14 individuals got together a year ago to simply take pictures for a couple of hours I thought nothing more of the day. Now a year has come and gone (very quickly) and in April 2010 we are still photo walking month after month.

Personally the London Photo Walk has been great for myself. Being able to explore and photograph the unique and diverse neighbourhoods that London has to offer  in a relaxed and comfortable format/environment has been something that I have really enjoyed. On top of this, I have had the opportunity to meet some of the greatest people, from both inside and outside of London, and have made a number of lasting connections with people I would not have normally met otherwise.

I know that other people feel the same way as I have received a number of emails over the past year that mention the relaxed informal nature of the photo walks which makes people feel more at home and less pressured than traditional clubs.  When I get letters such as these I can help to think about the next walk we will have and the people we will meet.

With that said, in order to celebrate one year of photo walking in London we thought it would be fitting to return to where it all began, the Old East Village. Over the past year many changes have taken place in this unique neighbourhood of London and it would be nice to head back to the Old East Village to see the contrast that a year of time can produce.

The details of the photo walk are as follows:

Date: Sunday, April 18th, 2010

Time: 10:30am – 12:30pm

Location: Old East Village

Starting Location: East Village Coffee Shop

Route: Marked in RED on the map

Ending Location: Someplace for Lunch (still to be determined, stay tuned)

As far as I know there won’t be presents, cake or candles, but there will be good company and great conversation. I encourage everyone to come out and enjoy this day. Whether you are a photographer, resident, business owner or just someone who likes good conversation, the day will prove to have something for everyone.

Although this is called the London Photo Walk I can personally vouch that photography is no longer the main purpose behind it all (at least not for me). Over the past 3 months I have taken less and less photos at the walk but have enjoyed each walk more than the one before.  The people, conversations and places are what the London Photo Walk is all about and as such everyone is invited.

A number of local “photo walkers” have expressed an opinion in rescheduling yesterday’s cancelled photo walk.

Although I may not be able to attend myself I am more than happy to let everyone know of the details.

If you are up for a photo walk on Saturday, April 3rd at 6pm, there will be some people meeting at Harris Park to head out for a little walk.

For more information about the root please check out the post regarding the photo walk that was cancelled.

Please keep in mind that we will have our regular April photo walk near the end of the month and plan to attend as it is our 1 year anniversary.

Sadly due to the poor, wet weather in the London area today’s Photo Walk has been cancelled. Although the gloomy sky and the rain can make for some interesting photos the wetness that comes with the rain is not the best for camera equipment or for the health of our photo walkers.

With that said, we have decided to cancel this month’s walk and wait until April to head back out.

Make sure to check out the April edition of the London Photo Walk as it will be our 1 year anniversary and to celebrate we are heading back into the East London Village where this all first began.

See you there.

Two weeks ago the London Photo Walk took a road trip down the road to Port Stanley, Ontario. Heading out that afternoon I was happy to see that it was a generally nice day without any wind in sight.  I must admit though that I was a little ‘worried’ that because of the location (outside of London) and the winter weather that the turnout for February’s photo walk might not be that good.  Well I have to say that I was impressed.

With about 15 people turning out and a bunch of new faces, the London Photo Walk explored Port Stanley, Ontario and took some great shots.  Although the terrain was a little wetter than I had thought it would been, we went up and down the beach, walked in and around the harbour and some of us had the chance to grab a bit to eat afterwards at what appeared to be the only restaurant open in the evening, The Buccaneer.

There certainly is something that is intriguing about heading to a location that typically is visited only during the summer months and capturing the beauty of it on a nice winter’s day. Some great pictures were taken during the day and everyone I spoke to seemed to enjoy the location.

One thing I want to note is that the London Photo Walk isn’t just about walking and taking photos, its about helping those who might happen to get their pickup truck stuck on a mound of snow in a deserted parking lot where ‘luckily’ the London Photo Walk just happened to be.

Before we even started walking on that day we managed to help someone get their truck unstuck in the parking lot, then we watched him drive around the parking lot trying not to get re-stuck.  We figured we should help out as we would expect others to do the same for us.

Stay tuned for the details of the March  photo walk, we hope to have them in the next week or so.

Oh, and remember, April’s photo walk will be the 1 year anniversary of the London Photo Walk and we will be heading back into East London for our walk.

Lens Lenders has added new lenses (and a body) to their rental catalogue. These additions are exciting and include supertelephoto lenses which customers have requested almost since the business first opened.

In addition to all of the lenses/gear that were previously available to rent (for week/weekend periods) the following list of items has recently been added:

Canon 5D Mark II D-SLR camera
Canon 50mm f/1.2 L USM
Canon 85mm f/1.2 L USM II
Canon 300mm f/2.8 L USM IS
Canon 400mm f/2.8 L USM IS

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 G AF-S
Nikon 45mm f/2.8 D PC-E
Nikon 200-400mm f/4 G IF VR
Nikon 300mm f/2.8 G IF VR

Olympus 14-35mm f/2 SWD
Olympus 35-100mm f/2

Make sure to check out LensLenders.ca for a complete list of what is available to rent, pricing details and rental agreement.