Had a lot of curious inquiries about when Urban will be this year of late. While we normally do have the Safari this time of year, I am planning on putting something together for this fall. Thinking September/October would be a good time. Check back throughout the summer and I’ll have updates on specifics.

Ah, that’s better. A couple of hours sleep and I’m good to go. Looks like everyone can view the gallery and it’s working well. We’re now at the last and final step of Urban Photo Safari 2009. A run down of what the contestants have to do next:

1. Take a look at the images in the ‘09 gallery (http://urbanphotosafari.com/2009/). Make sure to click the “next” button at the bottom to access all of the galleries. There are a total of 43 contestants this year. Each contestant has their own unique album of images to view.
2. You have 10 total votes to use. One vote per photo and you can’t vote on your own. Write them down and send them to me in an email (email link to the right). Email should look something like:
   Contestant 01 - photo 02
   Contestant 12 - photo 04
   etc.
   Make sure to include your full name in the body of the email.
3. Hand in all votes to me by midnight Friday (6/19).
4. I will tally all of the votes and announce the winner sometime Saturday afternoon.

Should be one of the quicker turn-arounds we’ve had. One week from participation to the announcement of the winner. If you were a participant, please make sure to take the time to get your votes in. It will be hard with so many images but, the other participants (and me) will greatly appreciate your efforts. If you don’t have your votes in to me by midnight Friday and you do end up getting the most votes, you will be disqualified and I’ll hand the win to the next in line.

Have any questions? Shoot me an email or, post a comment and I’ll do my best to get it answered a.s.a.p. Also, let me know how the gallery is working this year. Is it slow? fast? Just right? I experiment with building different galleries each year so, be good to hear some community feedback on how it’s working.

Thanks! Enjoy the images and make sure to pass the link around for others to view your hard work.

And all through the house… anyone have a good rhyme here? Without further ado, here’s the official Urban checklist. Check it twice and make sure you have everything ready to go. We’ll meetup at 9:00 a.m. sharp (I should be there a little early). If you haven’t met me yet and are a little intimidated to go, no worries. I’m the dude with long-ish hair and I’ll have some camera gear sitting on the table. I’ll also be wearing last year’s Urban t-shirt to make it all official like. Just need to sign in, go out and shoot and make sure you show-up back at Homer’s at 1:00 p.m. to get your images downloaded. Hope to see you there!

Wallet. Check. Keys. Check. Batteries. Batteries. Dang! Forgot to charge the batteries! Believe it or not, I’ve done that one in the past. To make sure you don’t forget anything, here’s a list that may help.

1. Batteries.
   Seems obvious but, make sure you have fully charged batteries. Might even help to bring one or two extra.
2. Camera.
   Okay, way too obvious but, it’s a checklist.
3. Good walking shoes.
4. Sunscreen.
5. Cell Phone.
   I could date myself and say bring a dime for the pay phone but, I digress.
6. Extra memory cards.
   Pretty cheap these days. Head over to Target or Wal-mart and get an extra one if you can.
7. Gas up the car.
8. USB cable or card reader.
   As mentioned elsewhere on this blog, we will have alot of different card readers to download images. There has however been a few cases where we didn’t have the latest. If your camera came with a USB cable or you have a specific card reader, bring it with you just in case.
9. Water & something to munch on.
   Please patronize our meet-up spot, Homer’s. This isn’t an official Homer’s event so, we’ll be using the tables and hanging out in their building. Be great if we could all throw some business their way and buy a few drinks. The Latte’s are pretty dang good. Heck, there are also lot’s of great restaurants in town. Take a break and have some lunch. Don’t forget about the Overland Park farmer’s market as well.
10. Your friends, family etc.
    Don’t leave them at home, bring them along! In fact, if you didn’t “sign up” using the evite, don’t worry about it. Just show up. The more the merrier.

Have anything to add to the list? Let us know in the comments.

On another note, one thing I’ve been missing over the past couple of years are event photos. Photos of people signing in, taking photos while on the safari, goofing around while on the safari etc. Be cool if you could fit some of those in while you are taking the other images as well. Be great to have more images to show people what the event is like for next year.

See you tomorrow!

As well as being long time Urban enthusiasts Kyle & Lisa have both been known to pitch in and help us out with the event itself (thanks guys!). Kyle also has the dubious distinction of working with me everyday. Why he’d want to spend a Saturday hangin’ out shootin’ photos with us has to say something about how much fun this whole thing is. Kyle took the time out to write a few responses to our questions for Team Johnston. We’ve included a gallery of their efforts going back to Urban 2003.

Urban: How long have you been participating in Urban?
Kyle: Lisa and I Urban’d in ‘03, ‘04, ‘06 and ‘07 — so since 6 years ago. Now I feel old.

Urban: In past Photo Safaris, how have you spent your time? (were do you go, what do you look for, do you have pre-plans etc.)
Kyle: We always try to think about where we’re going to go the night before (Lisa’s skillset), but I know that we’ll find little unexpected surprises, so I try to keep my eyes open for those opportunities during the Safari (being easily distracted = my skillset).

Urban: What do you do for inspiration?
Kyle: I like to look for interesting angles and compositions. I also like to try use some of the camera settings I’m not super-familiar with — it’s a nice way to learn what my little point & shoot is capable of producing.

Urban: What’s your favorite part of Urban?
Kyle: Taking a few hours out of my day to exercise a different part of my creative skillset and take pictures in places I’m not familiar with.

Urban: Any tips or tricks for first time Urban participants?
Kyle: Take lots and lots of pictures and have fun doing it..

Is…. Saturday June 13th. Apologize for the earlier post. I always think I can have it May and then time gets away from me. Well, that and I’m hoping June will have that much better weather. More details to follow.

I apparentely hid the email address in the last post. Get me your list of ten images + 1 self portrait by tonight at 8 p.m. The email address is deanolufson (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Remember, the self portrait doesn’t have to be a picture of you. It can be an image of anything that you feel represents you. Mug shot? Great. No mug shot? Pick an image of the tree if that “represents” you. Oooooo, how esoteric.

Good luck! Any questions, let me know.