Cockatoo Island – #thewalkdownunder

When the alarm clock went off at half-past-five I thought briefly of turning over and going back to bed. I’m not really one for getting out of bed early on a Saturday. Eight-thirty, nine-o’clock is generally okay, but five-thirty is not within my frame of reference.

But when I checked the weather and it was fine, and when I realised I had enough time for breakfast, I figured I would go ahead with it and take part in #thewalkdownunder, a photographic walk that took place across Australia today. Although it was the work of some individual volunteers, Google assisted with sponsorship for things like t-shirts, hats, breakfast and transportation.

“Are you a photographer?” I was asked by a woman I have had some real life work dealings with over the last few years. She was from the events company which was organising the event in Sydney. “No, I’m just a geek”, I told her. And it was true. I’d estimate most of those taking part were amateur photographers, complete with big cameras, big lenses, and big tripods. In contrast, I decided to attend with only my camera phone. As a camera phone, it’s pretty good, and anyway, I susbscribe to the view the best camera is the one you have with you.

For me, I was more interested in the social media aspect of this than the photography aspect. That said, I really enjoyed wandering around Cockatoo Island for a couple of hours taking photographs. Overall, a lovely day.

But now it’s time to go back to bed for a couple of hours missed sleep.

Kevin Rose from Google has posted this terrific video on Youtube which captures the day far better than I have.