When: Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 February, 2012.

Where: Cliffony, Co. Sligo, Ireland. We are situated beside the N15 road right on the outskirts of Cliffony as you approach the village from Sligo town. (54.428231,-8.458785)

Cost: €10, payable by Monday February 20, 2012. I accept PayPal and Google Wallet payments.

How do I reserve my place? Pay the deposit fee or let me know either here or via email.

What should I bring? A sleeping bag, a tent, weather-appropriate clothing and your camera gear. If the weather is anything like it was last September then “weather appropriate” should be read as “warm, layered and with strong footwear”.

It helps me out a lot if you bring (and clean :p) your own plates and cutlery. I have plenty on hand here to use, but it simply reduces my logistical overhead if I have less dishes to fret about.

Tell me more…

Dun dun dunnnnnn.

Yes, again. A spring walk to match the autumn one, although I doubt that the weather will have changed all that much in the intervening five months.

Alright, some of you were at the last photowalk, and some of you undoubtedly be new faces. Here’s the gig:

1. Turn up Saturday, and have a delicious lunch.
2. We visit somewhere in the locale and stop into a pub.
3. Come back, have dinner.
4. Go somewhere else. Where, exactly, depends entirely on the temperament of the weather on that night. There are ruins in the area for light painting, and if the weather cooperates we have gloriously dark skies.
5. Then we sleep.
6. The next morning is breakfast.

There is no set schedule, and indeed the whole point of the weekend is for some photographers to get together and relax.

The menu of thunderous fury!

As of today (January 11) the menu is somewhat provisional. Alternate dishes will be offered based upon any given allergies and any professed aversions.

• Lunch: Homemade vegetable soup, served with white and brown breads.

• Dinner: A Mexican-style buffet. Savoury taco beef and beef chili served on corn tortillas wraps. Toppings include fresh salsa, guacamole, cheese sauce, refried bean dip, pickled jalapenos, iceberg lettuce and sour cream.

  This meal will be both savoury and strongly-spiced. I will have alternatives in place for those who aren’t up to the task.

  Dessert will be ice cream and brownies supplied by a local friend. Toppings include chocolate and strawberry sauce, wafers and whipped-cream-in-a-can.

  Bring your own alcohol.

• Breakfast: Tentatively fried potatoes, bacon and eggs. Fast, easy to cook food that’s full of delicious unhealthiness to get your arses out the door.

A special request

This might strike some as an odd request, but I need one person to bring an electric kettle. A significant choke point last September was in getting everyone a hot cup of tea/coffee in hand on the Sunday morning. An extra kettle will go a long way to relieving the congestion.

When?

Saturday 1 October, 2011 from 2pm to 5pm.

Where?

The fountain, Eyre Square/Kennedy Park, Galway City, Ireland. 53.274716,-9.049387 for those of you navigating by GPS.

Cost?

Gratis! Free as in beer.

How do I reserve my place?

You sign up at the official photowalk page on the Worldwide Photowalk website.

What should I bring?

Your good self, a friend, a family member and, of course, a camera or two.

How do I contact you?

Email mark@bhalash.com or call 086 190 8088.

Tell me more…

The rain has barely stopped falling from the Cliffony photowalk of furious thunder, yet here I am diving head-first into another event being held right in the medieval heart of Galway City. This year’s Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk event is being organized by, yes, me! I am taking over from Sean McCormack who is taking a break from this due to burnout and other commitments. Here I am and there you are. I think we’re going to have a great time.

Or else.

The annual Worldwide Photowalk was started in 2007 by the said Scott Kelby as a way to promote photography, foster community and drag professionals and amateurs alike out into the light of the bright daystar for some fun shooting. Since 2010 he has also donated proceeds from photowalk t-shirt sales to a Kenyan orphanage (snip):

Q. So are you going to try and work some angle so that Orphanage in Kenya gets something out of this?
A. Ahh, you know us too well. Last year Scott was trying to come up with a good tie-in, but luckily one of his blog readers, Rob from Towner Jones Photography, came up with a great idea—we created an official Worldwide PhotoWalk T-shirt. We’re doing it again this year, and 100% of the profits from the sale of any of these t-shirts will go to feeding the kids at the Springs of Hope, Kenya Orphanage. We think it’s a great idea, and we’re so grateful that Rob came up with it! The online store will be up very soon!

There you go.

On the Saturday we are to meet up at Eyre Square for 2pm – look for the surly and gap-toothed guy with big beard. Dress appropriately for the season and weather, bring a camera and be prepared to enjoy yourselves.

Route

Unlike the Cliffony photowalk, which, due to its nature and the weather, became more of a “turn up and we’ll figure out a route as we go”, I am setting a firm route. I am making a conscious choice to avoid the city centre and the main shopping areas due to an honest discomfort in crowds. Instead we are going to take off on a tangent around Galway City to avoid the worst of the crush:

1. Down Eglinton Street to the Town Hall theatre.
2. From the Town Hall theatre down to the Waterside. First stop.
3. From the Waterside to the Salmon Weir bridge.
4. We will cut across the bridge and venture up to Earl’s Island to visit the Fishery. This stage is currently (15/09) tentative: I need to contact the fishery to confirm if it is okay, and what numbers we can bring in there. Second stop.
5. After the Fishery we visit the Cathedral and stop here for a little while to photograph the architecture.
6. Exiting the Cathedral, the group will head down Nun’s Island to Bridge Street. We’ll visit the Saturday afternoon market, St. Nicolas’ Church.
7. And finally, we’ll cross the road to Kelly’s Bar for a well-earned pint.

Simple, right? I’ll see you all there on the day.

When: Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September, 2011.

Where: Cliffony, Co. Sligo, Ireland. We are situated beside the N15 road right on the outskirts of Cliffony as you approach the village from Sligo town. (54.428231,-8.458785)

Cost: €10, payable by Monday September 5 2011.

How do I reserve my place? Pay the deposit fee or let me know either here or via email

What should I bring? A sleeping bag, a tent, weather-appropriate clothing and your camera gear.

Tell me more…

This grand adventure began as a humble one-day photowalk, but the extreme location (travel across Ireland until you run out of Ireland to travel across. That’s where I am) and the promise of nighttime photography prompted me to extend it overnight. So there you go, a two-day event.

And there you have it, another photowalk organized by myself. This one is being held in celebration of my family and I moving home from Galway to Sligo and starting school.

But wait, there’s more! You do not need to be a photographer to attend, no sir, no ma’am. Any geek is welcome to come up to our house over the weekend. You are welcome to sit on our couch, welcome to use our Internet and welcome to eat our food. This wonderful caveat comes courtesy of the hackers at Galway’s 091 Labs who jumped at the idea of food and couches, but were put off by the lack of a camera.

Final details of the actual walk route will have to wait until I actually move to the area and get a feel for good routes, but I want you all to to mark your calendars and book time away from work and spouses now!

Dinner

The €10 is to cover food and other expenses that might be incurred during the camp out. My wife is an excellent cook and promises a three-course dinner, full lunch and breakfast on the Sunday morning:

I will probably do a pulled pork or a rolled roast and some roasted chicken with roasted potatoes, vegetable salad and bread for dinner. Brownies and ice cream for dessert. Lunch will be green salad cheeses, cold cuts, fresh bread and pasta salad. Breakfast on Sunday will be cheese omelet with sides of crumbled bacon ham, sautéed mushrooms, bell peppers, spring onions and sour cream. They can build their own with whatever toppings and we will have waffles with syrup, sausages, bacon, toast, jam, coffee, tea, juice, water and soda.

Please alert me in advance if you have food or animal allergies, or require a special diet.

The schedule

The draft schedule for the weekend is as follows:

• Saturday lunchtime: Everyone arrives, sets up their tents, has a light lunch and then departs toward Mullaghmore/Cliffony beach for a photowalk.
• Saturday evening time: We return to the house, unload our photographs, have dinner and chill out for a few hours.
• Saturday night: If the weather permits, I want to return to Cliffony beach for night time shooting. I plan to give an impromptu class on long-exposure, star trails and interesting bits and bobs in the sky.
• Sunday morning: Breakfast, tidying up and departure.

Fine details of the route and any workshops will be made available as we get closer to the weekend It’s safe to say that we will be spending a fair bit of time on the Saturday down on the beach.

Email mark@bhalash.com for more information or with your own suggestions for activities over the weekend.

No better chance to photograph a ruined keep in a mysteriously misty, wet and rainy forest (because really, when isn’t it wet, rainy or misty here) is to be found than in Galway City on July 2 coming, from 10am-3pm. Attractions in the forest include the marvellously-intact Merlin/Doughiska Castle, the ruins of crofters huts and other buildings. And trees. Lots of trees.

Where are we meeting?

At the Supermacs opposite the entrance to Merlin Park, at 10am (map).

I have children. Can I…

Yes! Children are absolutely welcome to come to this photowalk.

The plan:

The plan for the day calls for a relaxed photowalk: Meet at the Supermacs opposite Merlin Park, travel to the forest, take photographs, walk around and travel back to the city for either a late lunch or drinks. Photographers on all levels and interests are very much welcome to this event!

How to get there:

Galway’s Merlin forest, castle and hospital are long-established institutions that are easily accessible to travelers from both Dublin and Galway City. The hospital is served from Eyre Square by the #9 and #4E buses and is located on the main Dublin road just inside of city limits.

If you are travelling into Galway on the M6 motorway, exit left at the terminus and take the right hand exit of the next roundabout (map).

Contact details:

Email mark@bhalash.com, tweet @bhalash or call me (Mark) on 086 190 8088 for information, suggestions or directions on the day.

If there is interest, we might stroll through town later as well.
For breaks (and to warm up again) we plan to go to the beer tent located there, or to the Skef pub.
Approximate ending time 7 pm but this is obviously open ended if people are interested  – it is Galway after all

Let us know if you’re coming by clicking on the “Join” button below!

Alternatively, we’ll head from South Park back towards the docks and into some different areas of the city. There are no hard and fast rules with the walk. We have no time schedules, no transport to organise, no group entry to anywhere or anything. People are completely free to wander off to do some shopping or stay with the group. In fact the only time restriction is the start of the Blog Awards later that evening!

As before, there’s a dedicated number for anyone that gets lost or delayed to call. That number is +353 86 1551616. It’ll be available from 9am on the morning of the walk until the end of the walk that evening. Hope to see you there. And remember, you don’t need to be a photo blogger to come photo walking

If you’re of the photography persuasion and you’ve never been to a blog awards night before, coming along to one in Galway is a no-brainer. If you have already been to a previous awards night, you know exactly what an amazing night it is so I’ll see you there.

Accommodation is already sorted too. I hope Damien won’t mind me borrowing this info from the awards website

Details:
Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa – Galway – Saturday March 27th only available. Please quote the Blog Awards – code Blog2703 to ensure you avail of the discounted negotiated rate.
Rates – €130 single and €150 – per room B&B
Maria Booth – Reservations Supervisor
T: +353 91 538200, D: +353 91 538520
maria.booth < at > radissonblu.com

Hotel Meyrick – on Eyre Square – Rates available for Friday March 26th and Saturday March 27th. Please quote the Blog Awards – code Blog2703 to ensure you avail of the discounted negotiated rate.
Rates – €115 single and €135 double per room per night, B&B
091 564041
Orla Johnston, ojohnston < at > hotelmeyrick.ie or reshm < at > hotelmeyrick.ie

But of course there is a truly crazy amount of hotel and B&B rooms available in the city so shouldn’t be a problem for anyone. So c’mon people, fire your suggestions on locations at me.