Meetup #7 - Royal Oak Photo Walk

This meetup started out because I wanted to share photos and ideas etc with the meetup members. So, I posted a meetup to meet and eat lunch in Royal Oak.

*enter crickets chirping*

After about a week and maybe one or two "maybe" RSVPs, I changed this too the RO Photo Walk.

It turned into the biggest meet yet.

The irony here is, for each of the previous meets, I spent lots of time getting it ready. Looking up the locations to post, researching the meet locations, writing the post, sending it out.. I mean at least an hour went into each previous post, and with at least one, the prep was several hours. And what meet gets the most takers? The one that took literally 2 minutes to post. haha.

We all met at the Starbucks on Main Street - had some coffee, then headed over to the Farmer's Market. I wasn't able to get a photo with the FEEL of the place.. so I will share some of the other shots I took there:













Then we headed back to Main Street:










And finally we hit the Train Tracks - as no trip to Royal Oak of the photo nature would be complete w/out photos of the tracks:










After our lovely walk, we headed over to Mr. B's for some lunch which was just lovely.

It was a great day, fun, great weather, lots of people. Ahh. Life is good. :)

WORKSHOP: The Mechanics of Photography and/or Photo Editing with Photoshop

I can't tell you all how excited I was about this project. From the first email I sent out, to the workshop itself, I was simply over whelmed by how much everyone was willing to step up and help with whatever was needed.

So, instead of going into all the details, I'd like to take this moment to thank Mike and Marc for taking the time to not only put together great presentations, but for coming out to teach this workshop!

Mike Teaching about Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO



Here is Marc teaching Photoshop Basics

This class built a foundation upon which we will build many more Workshops in everything from The Mechanics of Photography, to Photoshop / Photo Editing, to How to take better pictures to Portraits, and Do It Yourself projects... I think you get the idea :)

Note: The colors are off in the photos because I was changing the White Balance a lot to test the different settings during the workshop as the techniques were being explained.

Detroit Zoo and Butterfly House Take 2

Given how much it snowed the first time around, I thought it'd be a good idea to revisit the zoo.

I had a list of attendees, got there early, and directed traffic (ok, moving to the next blah blah). this is also the first meet where we got together after for food.

Lots of great photos, lots of great conversation.

We learned many things at this event. We learned about the KEY to photography, we learned about a self help website one of our members runs, and we learned a LOT about aperture and shutter speed from Jeff (at lunch).

Henry Ford Museum

I had all my ducks in a row for this one. We had about 13 people at this one (11 not counting my two munchkins). We walked in as a group.. saw a couple of Presidential cars.. and I looked up and everyone had gone their own way.

So, as a group.. it wasn't so much a meetup.

However, I did get to talk to a few people as we ran into each other :) And I got some really good photos that day.

What did I learn from this? People WANT direction. :)

Anna Scripts Conservatory

This was the most organized meet to date :) It was also a breath of fresh air in the middle of winter. Walking into this place was like walking into a lush tropical garden. Heck, who am I kidding, it was a lush tropical garden.

We had a great turn out, and I was ready for them too. I actually (somewhat surprisingly at this point lol) got there not on time, but early. I had a sheet with pictures and names of everyone coming, so I was able to greet everyone by name. We had a great crowd, and we were beginning to have some regulars too!

Robert
Joy
Amy
Michael
Marvin
Andrea
Janice
Raymond
Kelly
Marilynn
and me :)

Meetup #2 Plymouth Ice Festival

The last time I went to the Plymouth Ice Festival, I was in high school. That means it was about 20 years ago. It also means that the festival was pretty much brand new. Which also means there weren't many (if any) real rules. You could wander around and see the sculptures from every angle. There were a lot of people, but it wasn't like a traffic jam.

So, this event was coming up, and I was wracking my brain for things to do.. so I posted it and got many interested people. For this meet, I also didn't bring a sign in sheet, but I DID bring a MEETUP sign. So I get there, and after getting lost in Plymouth, getting stuck in traffic, and finally finding a place to park, while I should have been EARLY to the meetup spot, i was actually late - and almost everyone was already there. (waiting for me!) (Whoops).

We walked around, and we took photos of the ice sculptures, and of the artists carving the ice.. this one was CRAZY busy. And, as I mentioned above we were allowed to walk wherever in the park before, now it was roped off, and the people could ONLY walk around the park, not through it. Also, it was almost too busy for us to really get any good photos. But, here is what I came up with:

Again, since there was no sign up, I sadly cannot remember all who came, but I do recall that at this meet we met Kelly, Quy and Joy and Nilesh. There were about 10 people though, but most didn't stay with the group.

Woo, two down and we seemed to be a successful group!

Meetup #1 - Detroit Zoo

Note to self: Save! Save! Save!

I had just finished this entry, uploaded the photos, and BLAM Firefox crashed. Grr.

Ok, moving on..


My first meet was something. I had joined the Detroit Photography Group. But, they didn't DO anything - and hadn't in months. So, I thought, what the heck, I'll start my own!

So I started the group in late 2008, the end of December, and I made my first meet the Detroit Zoo, Butterfly House. We had lots of people jump from the old inactive photo group, to the new group, and we had about 15 people RSVP originally. I was excited, but didn't really expect everyone that RSVPd to actually come. I told myself that if 5 showed, I'd be happy.

Then the day before, the weather reports were saying bad storm approaching. The RSVP's moved down to 11, but I really didn't expect many, if any the next day, if the reports were correct.

The day came, and it came with snow. And lots of it. The drive from my house to the zoo is usually about a 5 minute drive, it took me 15 minutes. Ugh.

So I get there, on time, not early (mistake one), and there were already several people there! I was AMAZED lol. I can't remember who exactly was there, because I didn't bring a sign in sheet (mistake two). I did talk to each person, and thanked them for coming, but I didn't take a group photo (mistake 3), or be "in charge" in any way. People just left as they were ready to. I don't think this was a mistake, but I have since changed this ;).

All in all, it was a decent group. We had (if memory serves) the following members:
Robert
Raymond
Janice
Marc
Me (haha obviously)
one other lady (who has since left the group)

and I think one other person was there, but I can't remember who :(

It was a good day. I left happy, and had a couple of good shots to show for it.

Welcome

Welcome to the RODP Blog!

The purpose of this blog is to keep you updated about our meets, upcoming events and I may even throw in some extras for you (exciting!).

I started the Royal Oak Digital Photography Group in late December, 2008, and had our first meetup 3 weeks later at the Detroit Zoo Butterfly House.

I hope you enjoy this blog :)