Sunday Social Photo Tour-April 13-Fell Point

When I scheduled the Sunday Social Tours, I didn't realize the the weekend of April 11 is the Fells Point Privateer Festival!  So our tour on Sunday the 13th of April was quite interesting.  There were tons of boats in the water, schooners docked along the piers and people milling around, some in their best pirate attire (read: boobs and tight pants.)




We met at the Daily Grind for a crash course to explain the basics of photography including aperture, shutter speed, white balance and focusing. 



Our first stop was again the courtyard where Schooner Lion is on display.  I love this spot; it's a great place for people to get used to all the "new" settings on their dSLRs.  Attendees practiced shifting their focus from foreground to background while shooting wide open and then increased their aperture to see the different it made in their images.  Many also played around with White Balance, to see the affect it had on the feel of their images. 







After spending some time there we moved across Thames Street to the pier where the pirate ship Fearless is docked.  This was a great place to take images with a very long depth of field. Under Armour sits directly across the water and there were lots of boats out sailing.  The lighting wasn't great for outdoor shooting, but these were just practice shots to get people ready for the Golden Hour later in the tour. 







Next, we stopped at the old Homocide: Life on the Streets HQ building We were graciously greeted by Snowdrift the deaf Pitbull and her master who were sitting on the steps.  Both were very friendly, well behaved and kind enough to allow students to take their photos. This unexpected opportunity resulted in some great photo journalistic images.   




For our mid tour break we headed to The Point in Fells for some yummy light fare, drinks and a slideshow of students images thus far. This also gave everyone time to relax and mingle. 



Once back out on the street, we worked our way down past HQ to the water taxi stop. Attendees spent some times shooting each other in front of the blossoming trees and hectic background of Fells.  We moved down to the Broadway pier just in time for the crew to be furling the top sail on Pride of Baltimore II!

As the sun started to set, the Golden Hour of photography arrived, making the water shimmer gold. We moved along from Broadway to Bond Street.  The setting sun and the natural light diminishing made it an ideal time to explain exposure bracketing.

When the sun was mostly down, we switched to shutter priority to capture some light trails and motion blur as cars drove up and down along Thames.  

See more pics from the tour below.

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Inaugural Sunday Social Photo Tour!!

This past Sunday, March 2, marked our first Sunday Social Photo Tour and Bar Hop.  Held in Fells Point, 7 attendees came out to learn a bit about photography and have some fun!

First, a bit about the tours:  In December I was asked by Living Social if I had ever thought of doing photo tours. Apparently they are big in other cities and they were lacking a provider in Bmore. As someone who is open to any idea, I was happy to come up with a concept.  Since we are a "Social" photography company (hoping to take the stuffiness out of photography) I wanted to create a relaxed atmosphere where instruction was simplified for beginners. I was able to accomplish that by bringing Deep Eddy Vodka aboard as a sponsor and focusing on one or two things each person wanted to improve on, instead of photography start to finish.  

We met at The Point in Fells for a brief mingling session, some yummy food, and a short explanation of (not quite) everything to do with digital photography.  The idea was to give attendees enough info to know where to start learning.  I initially thought we'd focus on shooting in Aperture Priority Mode, but as the day wore on, and each person wanted to capture something different, I suggested some switch to Shutter Priority and others to full Manual.   

Although it was both cold and rainy, we walked along Thames Street in Fells, and took shots from the pier near Bonaparte Bread, the courtyard with Schooner Lion and the old wharf building where they shot Homicide.  We focused on shooting crisp landscapes (F8 or above) frame filling objects with bokeh (F4 or below) and straight lines with interesting compositions.  I also had attendees shoot on different white balance settings to see what difference it made to their images. 

Halfway through, we stopped at Riptide Fells Point to enjoy some potstickers, bombs and review photos.  Each participant was able to see their strengths and where they could improve for the second half of the tour. Back out on the street, we stopped near The Admiral's Cup where 2 students tried their hand at shooting on shutter priority while panning a subject, to imply motion.  Although it takes practice, they both got the concept and are off to a strong start! 

After being out in the cold for a bit, Kilwin's Chocolates and Ice Cream on Thames Street were kind enough to allow us to shoot inside of their shoppe and warm up.  A few students tried an interesting new technique: zooming their lens in or out while shooting on shutter priority, with a long exposure. They got some interesting effects that replicate warp drive! Then we walked down to How Great Thou Art and The Sound Garden for some more shutter priority shooting. The art store has a mirror ball outside which made for an excellent subject to imply motion.  

As the sun set (the best time for outdoor photography, second only to dawn) we were able to shoot beautiful scenes near Bond Street Wharf. Nearby Bond Street Social had some really cool fire fountains for subjects and we were right across from Under Armor, just in time for their sign to be lit!

We finished up near Living Classroom across from The Domino Sugar Sign.  In my opinion, it's one of the best places to shoot nighttime scenery in Baltimore.  Although not everyone had a tripod, which is essential for night photography, students were able to make due with the posts along the pier as stand in tripods. 

See below for some of mine and student submitted photos from the tour.

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Student Work:

Photo By Patrick Homer

Photo By Patrick Homer