so, I'm not much of a joiner...... but I'm really hitting a wall in finding new perspectives and opportunities for photos. So, I just did a little googling and found several photo meetups in the metro DC area and am going to try out one or two.
Have you guys found groups like this of value, are they hit or miss?
Totally wanting you to reaffirm that I'm not going to meet a bunch of ax murderers at twilight on the Capitol steps :)
Did one through my local area Flickr group, if only they were axe murderers, as they all bored the crap out of me. But hey, don't let that put you off :)
I belong to a photo meetup group here in San Diego, as do a couple of other 365ers. It's a very active group with lots of outings and all levels of experienced photogs.
there are enough cops on the steps of the Capitol that if you are worried you can just leave. You should talk some DC people from 365 to join you, Monica and Shelia seem not like the ax murdering type. I also have been known to sucker a friend into coming with the promise of dinner afterwards.
I go to and help organise a couple of photography meetup groups in Vancouver, via meetup.com. We limit outings to 80 people and they are almost always full. If you are seeing similar attendance in your local meetup groups (if you live in a heavily populated area, of course!) then it's probably a good sign that it's a good group to join!
Meet ups around here work well for photographers, but if you are alone I might be cautious about night time areas until you know a couple of them. At least stay in well lit public places. Meet up makes no promises about who joins them. Normal caution is a good thing. But most of the people in the world aren't ax murderers. :)
We here in Brisbane, Australia have had a couple of meetups now, we had the 'axe murderer' warnings from friend and family and did it it anyway, there was not a murderer amongst us, well not yet anyway.
They have been great and we have quite an active facebook group going too. It has been a positive experience for us all.
I wouldn't even think of any axe murderer when I joined a local photographer group over Meetup.com in Berlin. All nice people who like to photograph or who are new in town...mostly international folks.I heart Axe Murderer rather stay local and don't move abroad. ;)
Love our outtings as we usually go to new places. Its always fun and I learn a few things as well ;)
Have you tried starting a discussion here on 365 asking if any DC-area members might like to have a meetup? We recently had one here in the Cincinnati area. There were nine of us who gathered, three of us who live fairly close to each other car-pooled to downtown (Hi, Amanda and JC!). We all had a blast.
As for joining a meet-up group of total strangers, it should work out just fine. You might find out if any of them have 365 projects, Flickr sites, Facebook pages, etc., where you can review their images and perhaps read some bios. But even if not, it should be fine. It could be lots of fun, or you could find yourself with a group of those people (you know the ones) who are more interested in discussing equipment than actually taking photos. :)
@ridley Yes, Michelle, the "gear heads," as we like to call them. :) We have several engineers in my photography club. Good Lord, they can carry on about how cameras, lenses, and other peripherals function. "Yawn" :)
Go - you won't be sorry! I've been to a google+ meet up and it was a great way to shoot with a group, and pick the brains of more experienced photographers. My daughter has been to one in Germany and raved about it. If you're nervous, take a friend with you.
I joined a couple here in Fla since I just moved 2 yrs ago. I was lucky to meet great people at a couple of them (one actually shares his lenses with me when we shoot together - YAY!!!). On the few that people bored or annoyed me at least they introduced me to new places and photo ops and then I wander off a bit and just shoot. Don't get in a car with strangers, go and have fun!
@jase_h So, just wanted to agree wholeheartedly with you -- went to one last night and it was like hanging out with my dad and his friends. Totally nice people, but......... lots of out of focus photos -- hard with those old eyes....
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@meisen325 one vote agains congressmen
these tend to overlap, so I am not sure we're going to get pure results on this poll....
365 tends to like a shot of red in photos, so I may have to vote with the axe murderers on this one.
for example, I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning astronaut supermodel.
@ridley I work in D.C. so looking forward to hearing how it went.
They have been great and we have quite an active facebook group going too. It has been a positive experience for us all.
Love our outtings as we usually go to new places. Its always fun and I learn a few things as well ;)
As for joining a meet-up group of total strangers, it should work out just fine. You might find out if any of them have 365 projects, Flickr sites, Facebook pages, etc., where you can review their images and perhaps read some bios. But even if not, it should be fine. It could be lots of fun, or you could find yourself with a group of those people (you know the ones) who are more interested in discussing equipment than actually taking photos. :)
And, I hope everyone here knows I was just kidding about the axe murderers! I'm more worried about those @sjoblues mentioned in her last sentence :)