Photowalks around the world with Scott Kelby and tens of thousands of photographers

Tens of thousands of photographers will take over the streets in a global initiative

This Saturday, the 5th of October, tens of thousands of photographers around the world will take over the streets armed with their cameras. They will take part in the sixth edition of the photowalks organized by Scott Kelby.

Grand winner of the 2012 edition of The Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk, taken by Lars Anshelm in Lunde, Skane Lan Sverige, Sweden.

Famous photographer, writer and editor starts photowalks as a social event

Scott Kelby is a famous American photographer but he is also known as a photography writer, with over 50 books published so far, including The Digital Photography Book series, which probably was the first photography book for many of us. He is also the editor and publisher of Photoshop User magazine and president and co-founder of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

In 2008 he started his photowalks, where photographers around the world are invited to get together, go out for a walk in the city and take photos of whatever they find interesting. Photowalks are a good opportunity to take some pictures, better know your city, learn a bit about photography and, most importantly, to socialize with fellow photographers. Of course, having fun is also a very important part of the process.

Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk is fun and rewarding

In Scott Kelby’s version, in every participating city there should be a City Walk Leader, who takes care of everything locally: plan the route, the schedule, the after-event hang-out and such. Along him, up to 50 people can take part in the walk, no more, that is one of the contest rules. Another rule is that all the photos have to be taken in the event day, which is October 5 for 2013.

And because the event is organized as a competition, there are prizes involved. The prizes are offered by many sponsors, including Canon, Tamron, B&H, Adobe and many more. To participate in the contest, every registered participant can submit no more than one picture, his or hers best picture of the day. From the thousands of received photos, a jury will select a grand winner, who will receive a prize valued at over $13,000 and consisting of photography gear, software and subscriptions. There will be 10 more finalists, each of them receiving a prize valued at over $1,200. Also, there are some prizes for the local organizers, the City Walk Leaders.

At the moment of this writing, for this year edition 27,785 walkers have already registered. Since the registrations are open until the walk starts, the number is expected to increase. Even you, dear readers, can take part: just look if there is a walk in your city and if there are open positions.

The winning pictures from the previous years can be seen on the official website.