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Mount Saint Benedict Photo Walk, January 13th 2013

old jug at Mount Saint BenedictWe’re starting 2013 with a promised return to Mt. St. Benedict, coincidentally also the location of our first photo walk last year.

We will meet in the car park of the Abbey at 3:20pm and head out at 3:30pm. The cafeteria will probably be closed so walk with your refreshments.

Why Mt. St. Benedict? Again?

It’s just one of those amazing places to explore. Just imagine, a hundred year old monastery nestled into the side of a mountain. That setting, that history, I don’t think you can ever run out of photos to make.

There’s the panoramic vistas both north and south – on a clear day you can easily see as far south as Pointe-à-Pierre. But that’s the obvious attraction.

I’ve shot everything from stray kittens to decades-old relics to gorgeous models.

And speaking of models, we plan to have a lovely volunteer along with us for anyone who is interested in trying their hand at some portrait photography. Walk with your flashes!

I will post more details about the model shoot in a couple days. In the meantime send me a message if you’re interested.

Sunset is a couple minutes after 6pm. We’ll stay for the sunset and leave shortly after. If anyone is interested we’ll head to the food court (Caribbean Cinema side) at Trincity Mall afterwards.

Remember, our photo walks are always free and open to anyone! You do not need some big fancy camera. Some of our walkers use their phones! And you don’t need to be a pro (whatever that means).

Getting to Mt. St. Benedict

  • From the Eastern Main Road turn north onto St. Johns Road (it’s less than 5-minutes east of the tunnel by UWI)
  • Follow St. John’s Road all the way up (about 10-15 minutes). There are clear signs indicating the route to Mt. St. Benedict.
  • The car park is about halfway up. There is a small sign on your left indicating the sharp right turn up to the Abbey/car park.
  • If you are travelling, there is a regular shuttle that runs from the base of St. Johns Road. The buses leave about every 15-20 minutes. (The shuttle is not free. At last check it was about $4 one way.)

Republic Photo Walk

Parliament signage at the International Waterfront Centre

Our Republic Photo Walk is on September 23rd, 2012.

Trinidad & Tobago will celebrate its 36th year as a Republic on September 24th. Little known fact – September 24th does not commemorate the anniversary of Trinidad & Tobago becoming a Republic.

We became a Republic on August 1st, 1976.

The first sitting of Parliament under the new Republican Constitution took place on September 24th, 1976.

Our Republic Photo Walk will take us from the Red House, the historic seat of Parliament to the current seat of Parliament at the International Waterfront Centre.

The route through downtown Port of Spain will take us past many historic buildings including:

  • Trinity Cathedral
  • National Library
  • old Fire Station
  • old Police Headquarters
  • Treasury

Meeting Point and Route

Red House decayThe meeting time is 3:45pm (September 23rd)We will meet outside the southwest corner of Woodford Square (corner of Abercromby Street and Hart Street) and proceed west along Hart Street to St. Vincent Street.

We will head south on St. Vincent Street to Independence Square and west along Independence Square to the Waterfront.

Sunset will be at approximately 6:00pm.

Parking

We recommend parking closer to the Waterfront so you won’t have to walk as far afterwards to get to your vehicle. Parking is available at the Hyatt car park – no fee, to our knowledge. Alternatively park with caution along Wrightson Road or on Independence Square in the vicinity of Furness Building and Unit Trust.

Taking Part

This photo walk is free and open to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a professional, hobbyist or casual photographer, or what type of camera (or camera phone) you have.

Think of it as an opportunity to get out, explore a bit, and meet and lime with others who enjoy photography as much as you do.

After the photo walk, read these tips on how you can share your photos with the group, and keep in contact online.

Maracas Waterfalls Recap

Photo walkers, DhannyP

Photo walkers, DhannyP

Imagine you’re walking along the forest trail. It’s a little muddy and a little slippery. And you’re a half hour and probably not paying too much attention to your surroundings any more cause you’re doing your best not to fall.

Then you catch a glimpse of cascading water through the trees and in a slightly humdrum way you think “oh, we’re there”. Cause your focus is on where your feet are falling, occasionally glancing up to eye level.

But then you look up. And up some more.

And there’s only one word to sum it up.

Wow!

Maracas Waterfall First Look, Marc Seyon

Welcome to the Maracas Waterfall. Located at the end of the Maracas/St. Joseph Valley in the Northern Range, this is reportedly Trinidad’s highest waterfall. A straight 91 metre (290+ foot) drop down an almost sheer cliff face. And easily our most gorgeous photo walk location ever!

As waterfall hikes walks go, this is definitely one of the easier ones. Though there are a couple short, steep sections and one lovely little waterfall/spring that crosses the trail, it’s not overly strenuous or treacherous at all. From the trail head it’s about a 20-minute walk through some lovely, lush forest.

Water trough at the trail head, DhannyPBalisier, DhannyPThrough the trees, carib_boyAlong the trail, carib_boyEpiphyte, Marc SeyonBarefooted walker, trinidad sky

There are no large pools at the base, but the waterfall itself and several small rock pools provide ample opportunity for a refreshingly bracing bath if you’re so inclined.

Photo walkers at play under the Maracas Waterfall, Marc Seyon

There are lots more photos from the Maracas Waterfall photo walk in our Flickr group. Two of our photo walkers also blogged their own accounts of the day — Maracas waterfall on bipedalling.com and Photo walk in Trinidad on Dpixel365’s blog.

Photo credits for the photos used in this post: DhannyP, carib_boy and trinidad sky. Group shot thanks to DhannyP too.

Worldwide Photo Walk, Tobago!

Sunset at Sandy Bay

We’re super excited to announce our first ever Tobago photo walk!

This walk will be part of the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk™, now in its fifth year. The Worldwide Photo Walk is billed as the world’s largest photo walk and even the world’s largest global social photography event. Last year nearly 30,000 photographers took part in over 1,100 locations around the world, taking over 6 million photos!

Photo walks offer photographers an excellent opportunity to get out, meet other photographers, and shoot photos and in Trinidad, of course, enjoy the lime and old talk. And it’s free!

Worldwide Photo Walk 2012 — October 13th, 2012

The Worldwide Photo Walk takes place on October 13th, 2012. Although the photo walk is free, registration is required. You must register on the official Worldwide Photo Walk page for this Tobago walk.

This photo walk also includes a photo contest. The best photo from this walk will receive an ebook copy of Scott Kelby’s Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers. You will also be entered into the Grand Prize competition for thousands of dollars in prizes including Adobe Creative Suite CS6, Adobe Lightroom 4 and other goodies.

There’s lots of ways to follow this global event:

Morning at Sandy BayTobago Walk Details

We will meet at Store Bay at 7am near the benches overlooking the beach.

The walk will be between Store Bay and Pigeon Point, two of Tobago’s most popular beaches, and one of our favourite all-time places to shoot. The walk will be almost entirely along the beach, with the brief exception of the 5-10 minute walk along the Store Bay Local Road. There are several quaint little roadside parlours and food vendors along the road though most of them open later in the day. Most of our shooting, however, will be along the beaches. Store Bay is best in the early morning before it’s overtaken by the chair vendors, hence the 7am start. There’s also the tiny Cable Bay, Sandy Bay which runs the length of the Pigeon Point Road, and is dotted with some lovely scenes of local fishermen’s boats and small businesses, and Pigeon Point itself with its world famous jetty. There is an entrance fee to Pigeon Point, currently less than TT$20. You can optionally enter for free by walking along the beach itself but you will not be allowed to use the facilities.

This stretch of coastline faces west so it’s really ideal for late afternoon and sunset photography. You can find any number of vantage points including the Pigeon Point jetty (one of my favourites) or the cliff overlooking Store Bay.

I have deliberately chosen to have this walk as an all day event to allow photographers to capture the changing character of the area as the light changes, and also as the tourists and local businesses go about their day. I don’t expect that you will walk all day. We will probably spend some hours relaxing either at Pigeon Point or over a lunch of crab and dumplings in Store Bay. All of which can be photographed to your heart’s content. Tip: take photos before you eat unless you want to have a curry-flavoured camera for the rest of the day.

Fisherman walking along Sandy BayMorning along the road to Pigeon PointA different look at the jetty at Pigeon Point

Getting There

We know many of our walkers will be from Trinidad. You’re welcome to come over for just the day of the walk, or plan a weekend getaway. Let us know if you need any help finding accommodations.

After the Walk

By now you’re probably asking what do we do with our photos after the photo walk?

Share them!

On Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Google+… you know the list.

Publish them on your personal website, blog, photo blog — this may even be the impetus for you to start a photo blog!

About Photo Walk T&T

This is our third year leading a Worldwide Photo Walk, and it’s really what started this Photo Walk T&T project. We’ve done a dozen photo walks in the past couple years. Photos from our past walks are on Flickr.

We’re active on both Twitter and Facebook, and you can also subscribe to our mailing list to receive notifications and updates on upcoming walks (see the link in the sidebar on this page).

We look forward to seeing you in Tobago!

Please remember to register.

Maracas Waterfall Photo Walk, August 25th

Come explore Trinidad’s highest waterfall with us on Saturday 25th August for #photowalktt12.

The Maracas Waterfall is almost 300 feet high. This is one of the more accessible waterfalls in Trinidad, an easy 30-minute walk, slightly uphill but not challenging at all.

We will be walking to the base of the waterfall. There is a hiking trail up to the top but we will not be doing that on this walk. That hiking trail is recommended for experienced hikers only – we definitely don’t fall into that category.

This walk is definitely for the nature lovers with lots of natural forestation.

Directions and Meeting Times

The waterfall is at the end of the Maracas St. Joseph Valley. From the Eastern Main Road it’s approximately a 30-35 minute drive.

** IMPORTANT ** Part of the Maracas Royal Road is currently closed for ongoing road work. The alternate route is below.

The route to Maracas St. Joseph starts at Curepe junction.

  1. Proceed north through the Curepe traffic lights onto Riverside Road (Royal Castle will be on your right if you’re facing north at the intersection)
  2. Riverside Road is winding but there are no turn offs. Follow it to the Maracas Royal Road.
  3. Turn right onto the Maracas Road (the Silver Bridge will be on your left)
  4. Follow the Maracas Road for about 15-20 minutes. Some of the landmarks you’ll pass:
    • University of the Southern Caribbean (left)
    • large Catholic Church (right)
    • Police station on a slight hill (left) (almost there)
  5. Waterfall Road is on your right, less than 5 minutes past the police station

We will meet at the start of Waterfall Road for 9:45am and depart for the waterfall at 10:00am.

The drive along Waterfall Road is about 10 minutes. There are some scenic spots to stop – a couple pools in the river, and some cocoa trees.

There is space to park but please be sure to secure your vehicle and any valuables in your vehicle. If possible, we recommend car pooling to reduce the numbers of vehicles we go up with.

Coming to this photo walk? Let us know on our Facebook event page. Please follow @photowalktt or our Photo Walk T&T Facebook page for regular updates. Or use the contact form if you’d like to get in touch directly.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Palmiste Park Photo Walk, June 2nd

We’re heading south for #photowalktt11 to the lovely Palmiste Park on Saturday 2nd June 2012. We know many of you, like us, will probably get lost soon after Grand Bazaar so we’ll coordinate a convenient meetup point for anyone driving down.

Please follow @photowalktt or our Photo Walk T&T Facebook page for regular updates. Or use the contact form if you’d like to get in touch directly.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Our Second Lopinot Photo Walk… Won’t Be Our Last

Lopinot Great House and grounds, carib_boy31

Lopinot Great House and grounds, carib_boy31

Lopinot.

Tucked away in the foothills of the Northern Range, this old cocoa estate dating back to the early 1800s is one of the most accessible historic villages in Trinidad. And steeped in local lore and legend. Ask any of the guides in the area about the ghost of the old Compte de Lopinot and his white stallion.

Two things set Lopinot apart for us as a photo walk location. First, how well it’s been preserved and continues to be maintained. The old Great House still stands, and serves as a museum of sorts. Ask any of the resident guides, usually villagers themselves, and they’ll be happy to give you a brief tour. Next time we’ll take some photos of the museum’s collection which includes two pieces of 200-year old furniture and preserved specimens of some very large and very scary creepy crawlies!

And second, there is just so much to see and explore. We didn’t even make it down to the river this time – who say river lime! – but a few of our walkers did.

Lopinot River, marsie4004

Lopinot River, marsie4004

Photo walkers below the cave entrance, funkyplet

View from the cave, funkyplet

Undoubtedly, the highlight of this walk was the trip up to The Cave. Alternately dubbed the Bat Cave and the Soucouyant Cave, it’s a short walk (< 10 minutes) up from the main complex. There is a short clamber up a cliff, but nothing overly treacherous. Still, muddy conditions – yes, another rainy Lopinot photo walk – and general fear of heights kept most from going into the cave itself.

Next time, right guys?

Those who did were definitely not disappointed. One photo walker went armed with his tripod (soucouyant protection?) and captured several lovely long exposures inside the cave. This one shown was taken near the cave mouth, looking in.

Lopinot Cave, garethleigh

Lopinot Cave, garethleigh

We got out of the cave to meet some gorgeous late-evening sunlight and just enough time to capture a few photos before another rain cloud threatened.

Lopinot Samaan trees, Marc Seyon/photowalktt

Lopinot Samaan trees, Marc Seyon/photowalktt

This photo walk also included a limited pre-walk shoot with a model on location. Thanks for being our guinea pig, Fana! We chose to limit this to just three photographers as it was the first time, but we’d love to extend opportunities this to other photo walkers over time. If you’re interested, either as a photographer or a model, let us know.

Fana, Marc Seyon

Fana, Marc Seyon

You can find more photos from this photo walk on Flickr in our group pool, or with the hashtag #photowalktt09.

Lopinot is one of those special locations we’ll keep going back to, so if you missed it this time don’t worry. We’ll return soon enough.

Lopinot, Revisited

Still no soucouyants.

Sorry Rachel. Next time you may need to help us search.

I’ll write a longer recap post with photos when walkers upload theirs. For now, this is a quick list of photo walkers from #photowalktt09 who I know are on Twitter.

  1. @_sashadoll
  2. @anafay
  3. @carib_boy
  4. @cupcakewench
  5. @el_hari
  6. @funkyplet
  7. @garethleigh
  8. @jcamachott
  9. @kesnut
  10. @kramtt
  11. @marcseyon
  12. @mars4004
  13. @ned_v4
  14. @perrymarctt
  15. @sabeehaali
  16. @renee_tandt
  17. @theartofgk
  18. @tommyreese
  19. @traceyctt

We had over 30 people on this walk – our largest walk to date – so if I missed anyone, please let me know.

If you’re on Twitter, remember to follow @photowalktt for future walk updates.

 

Mount Saint Benedict photo walk — January 15th

Mt. St. BenedictOur first photo walk for 2012 will be to Mt. St. Benedict on Sunday 15th January starting at 4:30pm. Sunset on Sunday will be just after 6pm so we’ll stay up for that if we can.

You will definitely love the vistas both north and south. On a clear day you can easily see to Pointe-à-Pierre, and much of east and central Trinidad. My favourite though are the views of the Northern Range.

As always, our photo walks are free and open to anyone with any type of camera and level of experience with photography. What better way to start on your New Year’s photography resolutions. :)

Walking with us? Let us know on Facebook.

No ducks were curried on this photo walk

What’s the last thing you’d expect to find smack dab in the middle of an oil refinery?

An environmental preserve dedicated to the preservation and conservation of endangered birds definitely ranks high on the list. That’s exactly where we headed for #photowalktt07 — the world-famous Pointe-à-Pierre Wild Fowl Trust. Funnily despite it’s fame, more than half of our group had never been!

Wild Fowl Trust ducksSo what is the Wild Fowl Trust exactly? A couple lakes, surrounded by lots of bush teeming with birds of all sorts including, according to our guide, real Muscovy ducks. Not the imitation one we buy to curry. (No, you cannot curry one to compare.)

The major lake is surrounded by a boardwalk so it’s an easy walk, minimal mud or mess. The route around takes about a half hour at a slow walking pace with enough time to read the educational signs posted around the lake.

In addition to the species of ducks and birds the Wild Fowl Trust also breeds scarlet ibises and peacocks. Have you ever seen a white peacock?

end by mischief roomThere are also a couple hiking trails that are a bit more treacherous, especially depending on the weather conditions. I won’t mention any mud mas shenanigans, but do tread with care.

This definitely isn’t a place to see in a rush. Take your time, sit at some of the benches or sheds around the lake and just enjoy the peace and quiet.

You never know what sort of wildlife you might see. I guarantee you will never guess you’re in the middle of an oil refinery.

photo credits: Renee T&T and mischief room