When the Town Crier turns out in full regalia to announce the start of your Photo Walk with an accompanying loud, clanging bell, you know something’s happening and that the odds are more than favourable for a great day ahead.

So it was in Youghal, Co. Cork on Saturday 3rd October 2015 when the walkers gathered for the 8th Annual Scott Kelby WorldWide Photo Walk organised by East Cork Camera Group on a beautiful, sunny morning. As well as our own members and some locals, we were delighted to welcome walkers from Blarney, Carrigaline and Clonmel who made the journey for the 10.45am start. Present also was our guide for the day, local historian, John Kelly, who proved to be a human repository of information regarding Youghal through the ages, giving meaning and perspective to our many stops along the route.

Our walk was based on the existing Youghal Heritage Trail which has a total of seventeen stops, the third of which is the Clockgate.

A jail and scene of gruesome executions in its time, the building has been recently renovated and has a viewing platform at the top offering fantastic views across the town. Since it is presently closed to the public, we were really pleased to have special access granted to us for our Photo Walk by the local Municipal Council.

Having fully ingested this unique view of the town and beyond, our walk wound it’s way through the narrow streets where history and photo opportunities abound.

The next major stop was at St. Mary’s Collegiate Church. Built in 1220 and extended in the 14th and 15th centuries, it is one of the few parish churches of the period still in use in Ireland. It has a fascinating history which is fully illustrated in the church.
Recent radio-carbon dating on wood samples in the Church place this roof in the middle of the 13th century (AD1223 – 1281). These findings prove that St. Mary’s has the oldest radio-carbon dated roof structure of any Church in Ireland.

About a half hour after the appointed finish time of 2pm, our walk came to an end at The Red Store on North Main Street, where some welcome food and refreshments, served by the friendly and attentive staff, finished our day off just nicely.

Youghal has been a destination for ECCG on several occasions in the past and features in our Lighthouse and Blackwater projects as well as in other shoots we have done there. With its long, golden beaches, harbour and enormously deep historic significance, Youghal has an abundance to offer the photographer and non-photographer alike.

With some new friends made and all of the world’s photography issues put to rights, it was off home to get the editing and uploading underway. Already there are around 150 images in our gallery with more to come over the next few days.

Many thanks to Youghal’s Municipal Council, Youghal Tourist Office, Community Radio Youghal, Town Crier, Mr. Clifford Winser, historian and guide, John Kelly, the staff at The Red Store and the people of Youghal for allowing us to roam your streets and photograph everything and anything on our path.

You can download Youghal’s Tourist Trails for your Apple or Android device(s) by clicking the links below.

Follow Youghal on Twitter:
Youghal Radio: @cry104fm

Visit Youghal: @visityoughal

Don’t forget to visit our gallery of images from the PhotoWalk. Enjoy!

The 8th Annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk is happening on Saturday, Oct. 3, in thousands of cities all over the world. ECCG is participating for the second year in a row and will be holding our Photo Walk in Youghal, Co. Cork this year.

This event, dubbed the world’s largest global and social photography event, has grown immensely in size and popularity since the inaugural walk in 2007. Last year, more than 30,000 photographers of all walks of life and skill level converged to explore their corners of the world through photography and social community.

The concept of a Photo Walk is simple. Photo Walks are created by Walk Leaders in cities all over the world. Walkers  meet up at a pre-designated location to spend a few hours socialising, capturing images and sharing with like-minded people. At the end of the photo walk, most groups convene at local restaurants or pubs to share their images and experiences over food.

In addition to the event, photo walkers will be able to upload their favourite picture to the popular Photo Walk contest for a chance to win a digital copy of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby. A Grand Prize winner and 10 finalists will also be selected by Scott Kelby himself!

Our Photo Walk in Youghal this year will begin outside The Mall Arts Centre at 10.45am and finish with light refreshments upstairs in The Red Store, Bar & Restaurant, on North Main St. at 2pm.

The event is for over eighteens, it’s free, but pre-registration is required. You can register at http://kelbyone.com/photowalk/walk/youghal-cork-ireland/  and clicking on the ‘JOIN THIS PHOTO WALK’ button or by clicking on any of the images in this post and complete the sign up form. Spaces are limited however.

This year, we encourage every photo walker to help support this year’s initiative to “Walk with a Purpose” by donating €1 to the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya, which you can do when you’re registering. This is completely optional but please consider it when you’re signing up.

Additionally, participants can connect socially before, during and after the event using the hashtag #WWPW2015 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Connect with us on our flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/groups/2913317@N22/ and the world wide flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/groups/wwpw2015.

About KelbyOne: Formerly The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and KelbyTraining.com, KelbyOne is the leading resource for online creative education worldwide. For more information, please visit www.kelbyone.com.

Last year’s photowalk participants in Midleton.

East Cork Camera Group, based in Midleton, Co. Cork, is an amateur photography club, which exists to foster the art of photography in the area. We are very active and have had over eighty shoots this year alone. Our website, www.eastcorkcameragroup.ie, contains galleries from each of these shoots and much, much more.

This is a great opportunity for the people of Youghal and beyond to put the town on the world photography map so why not join us on this year’s walk? Being over 18, having an interest in photography (and a camera of course!) is all that’s required. Fancy gear is not a requirement – if a camera phone or film camera is what you use to take photos, you’ll fit right in.

See you there!