Photo Walk Trinidad & Tobago

We’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.)

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

The 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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:

• the official Worldwide Photo Walk website
• Worldwide Photo Walk on Twitter
• Worldwide Photo Walk on Google+
• Worldwide Photo Walk on Facebook

Tobago 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.

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.