On July 24th, 33,500 people in 1,111 locations around the world came together in groups of 50 or less and took part in the World Wide Photo Walk. Sarah and I (photo 1, 2) joined a group of 9 photographers who took a two hour walk (9-11am) around the city of York, PA. We then met up at the end to chat at a local pizza shop. We took hundreds of photos and will each need to choose one photo to submit for the competition. While the prizes are nice, the competition is secondary to just getting photographers of all skills together for a fun day to learn from each other and enjoy the morning taking photos. We had a lot to choose from in York.
York is a historical city. The city has underwent extensive renovations in recent years. (photo 3) Large murals cover the brick buildings and even the parking meters are mini works of art. In this photo you see a mural referring to York as “Muscletown USA” (Bob Hoffman “Father of World weightlifting”, home of Mr. America ’40-’41, Tommy Kono - America’s greatest weightlifter, etc.).
A chaplain from York was one of the four chaplains, who in 1943 were aboard the troop carrier USS Dorchester and gave up their life jackets to others on the torpedoed ship. As the ship sank in the cold North Atlantic, the four men linked arms and died in a heroic expression of self-sacrifice. This was remembered in the one mural.
Another mural commemorates the use of the print shop and printing press in York, first used by Ben Franklin in Philadelphia. Back in the late 1770s the press printed the Proclamation of the first Thanksgiving, the Journals of Congress, Continental Currency, and other congressional documents.
York, PA is considered to be the first capital of the United States (before Washington D.C.) as this is where the Articles of Confederation were drawn up and signed by the Continental Congress and it was here the country was officially called the United States of America for the first time. The C.Congress chose York because they had just been driven out of Philadelphia by the British. York is also where general Lafayette met to sign the treaty to bring the French into the war of Independence. (photo 4) Sarah captured an excellent photo of this historical colonial log house – it’s the photo of the candle in the red framed window. Sarah's photo is a good example of how you don’t need an expensive DSLR to take a good photo.
In (photo 5) you can see by this vacant store window that there are still areas of York in need of fixing up. This is one of my favorite photos from the day as it makes me wonder what used to be displayed in the window (perhaps it displayed the latest hats and fashions during the roaring 20s, etc.) and now it’s empty – only a faint dusty memory like the reflections in the dust covered window. I like photos that tell a story. For (photo 6) I like the conflict between nature and urban development, and the contrast between the visually organic intertwined roots and the geometric shapes of the sidewalk. Where there’s conflict or contrasts there’s a story! (Photo 7) is an example of the many old abandoned brick buildings near the new sports stadium that used to be busy with activity at one time in history. (Photo 8) is one of my favorite photos showing the old historic Valencia Ballroom. I wonder what it was like to be there in the early 1900s?
Sadly, in a city like York there is evidence of poverty, and people with scars from a lifetime of various addictions, etc. (photo 9). (Photo 10, 11) are just a few of the many examples of the beautifully renovated homes and offices we photographed in downtown York. It’s been many years since I last walked around downtown York so the Photo Walk was a great experience to not only share the morning with other photographers but to rediscover the hidden treasures of downtown York, PA.
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