After participating in a photo-walk last November, I decided to do one myself. That was the first photo-walk I had ever participated in. It was a fun experience that any kind of artist should try. Though aimed at photographers, painters can get some shots to paint later. Writers can get ideas from what they see. Even musicians can be inspired by the sounds they hear. Heck, if all you have is your camera phone, that will work.
After shooting around Kankakee, I chose that as my subject. I billed it as an architectural photo-walk. The goal was to photograph different styles of buildings around downtown. Kankakee is like a lot of small cities in that they still have a lot of older buildings, but interspersed with new ones. This gives an artist plenty of options to choose from. As this was not really a class, but more of a walk-about, I could shoot too between suggesting what buildings to photograph. I offered tips along the way, but gave them free rein as to what and how they shot things.
The first building I photographed was a warm-up shot before the walk started. It is Rubber Rose Books & Print. This building was visible from our path, but was not included.
The next shot is the Kankakee Public Library. This almost looks like an artist rendering of a proposal for a building. Although I am not a fan of newer architecture, the angles of this just drew me in. I am glad I got this one.
This one is a detail shot from the Clock Tower Centre. Shot in color, I cropped it and converted it to black and white. At the time I did not think that would be the case.
Here is a close-up of the assessors office. So much detail throughout the building. Although the ornamentation on top is cropped out, I was trying to highlight the arched windows, so the crop doesn’t bother me.
This is another detail shot. It is the old National Guard Armory. It is now a sports complex. I just admire the amount of effort that was put into the details of these old buildings.
The last shot I am sharing is some church doors. When shooting this, I intended to convert this to black and white. After trying several times, I gave up and enhanced the colors some instead.
I enjoyed doing this walk, and plan on doing one again. Perhaps early fall may be a good time. Now to just come up with a different plan to take in other buildings. I may even emphasize a certain aspect to it. Who knows? Stay tuned to find out.
If you have gone on a photo-walk, or led one, let me know in the comments. I’d love to compare notes with you.
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