'Photo Walk' Planned in Downtown Stillwater on Saturday

For photographers of all skills levels and with all types of equipment — from consumer-grade point-and-shoots to high-end professional cameras — Saturday is the fifth annual Worldwide Photo Walk, and a local walk is planned in downtown Stillwater.

Worldwide Photo Walk is a free social photography event organized by Scott Kelby, the president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Volunteer walk leaders guide groups of up to 50 photographers on a tour of an interesting or photogenic area.

The official cutoff date to lead a walk was Oct. 1, but there is still time to register to be a photo walker.

In 2011, there were more than 1,000 photo walks around the globe, an upwards of 28,000 participants, according to the Worldwide Photo Walk website. This year, there are already 1,334 walks scheduled and nearly 30,000 walkers registered.

Because it is a social event, the fun keeps going after the walking photo shoot. Participants meet up at a bar or restaurant afterward to share and compare their pictures.

The Stillwater walk is hosted by photographer Lisa Yantachka. It begins at 4 p.m. Photogs will meet in the parking lot next to Valley Bookseller.

"Stillwater seems like a great place because of all of its historical sites. There is also a harvest festival going on. I am looking into a place to park since it might be busy this day. I will update you when I have an idea. We’ll enjoy the pumpkins and faces at the festival and then walk around town a bit," Yantachka wrote in the walk description.
"If the weather is nice, I’ll shoot for a deck/patio for the after party, if not a place with a nice open indoors. Bring your laptop or tablet if you want to share photos that night. Updates to follow as I get it organized! Thanks for your interest in walking, I can’t wait to do this!"

Register for the Stillwater walk at worldwidephotowalk.com. Four other photo walks are also planned in Minnesota.

After the walk, participants are asked to upload their best photo for a chance to win a digital copy of Kelby's book, Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers. There will be global winners chosen as well, for prizes including Adobe Lightroom 4 and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

View the 2011 Winning Photos

If you do the Stillwater photo walk, we'd love it if you submitted your photos to this post for others to see.