Charity Photowalk In Liverpool

Last Sunday I went on a Charity photo walk organised by Terry Donnelly in Liverpool to raise money for a little girl with eye cancer. You can find the go fund me page here:Go Fund Hayden

It was a dreadful dreary day for a photo walk but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. We started of in St James’ Gardens at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and then explored the inside. In the gardens we found the perfect spot to shoot the three models that Terry had organised and it’s always nice to have the opportunity to shoot a variety of models.

One of the highlights of the time spent in St James’ Garden was when I asked one of the photographers if the lens he was shooting on was the new lomography lens and he said yes would you like to try it, and gave me a master class for a couple of minutes. I never would have known what it was if I hadn’t seen fashion photographer Emily Soto shooting with it on her Facebook page and Instagram. That’s the best thing about going out with other photographers they are generally open to letting you try out their lenses as they know that photographers have a sense of pride looking after their own lenses so they will be careful with yours.

Inside the Anglican Cathedral my main fascination was with the stained glass windows I was amazed at the intricate and beautiful detailing when I used the zoom on my lens for a couple of shots.

The next part of the walk consisted of some street photography and finding some stunning textured walls to shoot the tattooed model Rhi against and it was hard to take a bad shot of her. As we were in a big group it became increasingly difficult to get any one on one time but the model Rhi had this great red hood and some interesting tattoos and I had got some shots earlier in the day but I had this particular shot in mind. What I wanted was a shot of Rhi with the hood up, where she was holding it in her hands and I wanted to add the feature of the finger tattoo while looking for the perfect background to compliment her. With a little help from my photography friends I found this sign that looked like a magazine style poster that was perfect for my idea.

Photography is all about seeing something in everything, in every wall, in every sign, in every building that is worth shooting. You must use your eyes to see what other people don’t see. Photography is a similar medium to film in that every person watching the film sees something different, every photographer sees something different in an image. You may submit your image to one photography competition and the judges will love it but submit it to another and the outcome may be quite the opposite.

After the street photography we looked around Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral but having been there twice previously I found less to shoot. Finally we ended the walk back at the Anglican cathedral and then I spent the rest of the day editing a few of my images and then looked at them again to do some more editing on Thursday.

All in all it was a great day and each photographer contributed £10 for the little girl with eye cancer and some giving even more money and its always rewarding to raise money to help someone or to help out a charity. Photography isn’t always about taking photographs for yourself or a client it can also be about coming together and doing something you love to put a smile on someone’s face.

So I hope you were inspired by this post to not only photograph for yourself or a client but to raise money for someone else.