Laurel Housden Photography Blog

I went out earlier this week to scout for an interesting walk for our photowalk on August 23rd as part of Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk. I wanted to highlight some of the tucked away places and interesting architecture around downtown. My assistant Rowan helped me take a few snapshots from the car window as I drove up and down streets going…ohhhh look here….look there…take that.. oh wow!

Please help me spread the word about the photowalk. It is limited to only 50 photographers so sign up fast at the Official Worldwide Photowalk Site here.

There are going to be giveaways including copies of Scott Kelby’s new Lightroom 2.0 Book and copies of Adobe Lightroom 2.0 for the best pictures in each city and a super prize for the best all around picture from all of the photowalks that day. You need to sign up in order to qualify for prizes.

The walk is going to start promptly at the steps of the Hippodrome at 5 p.m. We’ll start off with a group photo. From there we will explore the Sun Center behind the Hippodrome and the various storefronts and cobblestone streets around The Hippodrome.

From there we will proceed West on 2nd Ave and go North on Main Street where we will see more interesting storefronts and buildings. Take a left (West) onto University Ave (more cool storefronts, look for the cool cow building) and walk to 6th Street. Take a right onto 6th Street and look to the right for some really cool buildings including a funky pawn shop. Here are some pictures of this block of buildings.

We will continue North on 6th Street and then take a right onto 5th Ave. There is the old Santa Fe Community College Building with retro glass block windows, the old railroad track that is now a trail, and right on the corner at 5th Street is a really neat brick BBQ Shop. I am sure it will be open and we can get some cold drinks as we work our way back. There is an old fashioned wagon at the side of the building. Here are some pictures of it.

I may have some models available for a quick session at the BBQ Restaurant! If you know of anyone interested in modeling for about 20 minutes - just leave a comment or drop me a line at lahousden@mac.com -

From here we’ll be going east on 5th Ave and we will be entering a small neighborhood. It is historic Pleasantville. Remember, this is a neighborhood so we need to be respectful of property lines and people that may be hanging out on their porches on what will surely be a typical hot Gainesville evening. There are some very interesting architecture. We’ll be taking a right onto 4th Street. At this corner is the Mt. Pleasantville Missionary Baptist Church a brick building.

The route continues to the end of 4th street and then we will take a left onto 3rd Ave, then a right onto 3rd Street, then left onto 1st ave until we get to the back entrance of Steve’s Cafe Americain wherre are walk ends.

I have a section reserved for our group at 7 p.m. at Steve’s Cafe. You are on your own for drinks and food. At this time I’ll have more information on adding your pictures to our Flickr Group so winners can be chosen. Also, I hope this will be the first of many photowalks of Gainesville area photographers to meet and socialize. I know that there is a pretty active Gainesville Flickr Group that meets on a fairly regular basis and I’m hoping to see some of their faces on August 23rd.

Remember, each city is limited to 50 walkers so sign up fast for the walk over here.

Keep Smiling,
Laurel