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Guangzhou, Guangdong China (Xiaozhoucun village 小洲村)

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

This Walk is Full (The limit is 50 signups)
You will be added to this location's waiting list and will receive an email if/when you are added to the registered walker roster.

Walk Organizer

Chad Stuart Contact Leader

Meeting Location & Time

Saturday, October 1st (10:00am - 12:30pm)
Location: Steps of Xiaozhou Renmin Li Tang (小洲人民礼堂)

241 , Guangzhou, Guangdong- China

After the walk, meet at: Long Chuan Ting Zi Zhou (龙船艇仔粥)

Best photo for this location

By Daniel Janto

Walker Photos

Below are all walker photos that have been uploaded and entered in the 2011 Photo Walk photo contest.


  • he qiang

  • Jinquan Lin

  • Chloe Tan

  • Helena Zheng

  • Michael Struckmeyer

  • Daniel Janto

  • li hailin

  • Zhou Tingting

  • liang yong

  • Fan Ralph

  • Martina Ma

  • Zheng Jianmin

  • Ata Adnan

  • Hitomi Ko

  • Javier Miqueleiz

  • Venus Fung

  • ailly dou

Get Directions
Meet Time: 10:00am - 12:30pm

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Photo Walk Description

Congratulations and welcome to our first ever International PhotoWalk!
We’ll be exploring the famous Xiaozhoucun artist village in the Haizhu district of Guangzhou. If you’re not familiar, Xiaozhoucun is one of the most famous artist neighborhoods of southern China. There is far more than a day’s worth of photographic opportunities here. But we’re going to pace ourselves on a route through the core of the village that I think you’re going to love. You’re really going to enjoy this!

We’ll set off from the steps of Xiaozhou Renmin Li Tang (小洲人民礼堂) at 10:15 AM after a group photo. The walk will cover a little less than 3km over 2 – 2 1/2 hours. At 12:30-12:45 we’ll meet for lunch at the best little boat ‘n barber (you’ll see what that means when we get there) restaurant- Long Chuan Ting Zi Zhou (龙船艇仔粥).

Things you’ll need: Camera (Point-n-Shoot, Pocket, dSLR, SLR, Holga, Hassy, 4×5 field camera (not an ideal camera for the walk but to each their own), a device that captures a photograph), camera bag (optional but could be useful if you carry an extra lens and a flash), money for transportation, snacks, water, and lunch, (plus there are lots of small shops and a market nearby if you want to do some shopping after the walk), comfortable shoes, sunscreen, (possibly) a hat, good spirits (not alcohol, just happy thoughts)

Your PhotoWalk leader: Hi! I’m Chad Stuart, a photographer from the U.S. living and working in Guangzhou. I photograph just about anything you put in front of me, but especially people, places, and people being active in places. I also teach photography and journalism at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. When I’m not teaching, I’m usually traveling somewhere taking photos all along the way.

Tips for a fun and successful photo walk: There are links on this page to FAQ’s and details about what a photo walk is that will answer a lot of your questions and help you to have the best experience you can. Here are a few really important tips I’ve discovered after leading more than a few photo walks in the past here in Guangzhou.
1. Pack light. You don’t need 2 camera bodies, 5 lenses, and studio lights with you. Bring what you’d like, but I’ve found 1 camera body, one or two of your favorite lenses, and a flash will do just fine. We’re going on a walk, so plan to ‘shoot-n-scoot’ rather than set up tripods and lights.
2. Wear comfortable clothes for the season. Guangzhou is Hot! this time of year so don’t think you have to wear a suit to impress the ladies or your best evening dress to turn heads. Strut the comfy walking shoes and ditch the high heels. Your feet will thank you.
3. Put on sunscreen (and possibly wear a wide brim hat). When the sun is out you feel it. We’ll be in and out of shade but when you’re out you’re out so think about how to best shield you from the sun and still have two hands to shoot. Holding, folding, and strapping an umbrella for two hours can really ruin your mood.
4. Watch where you’re walking! Maybe this should be first, but I’m writing as I think of them. We’ll be walking next to waterways and walking on old uneven stones. Please remember to take the camera away from your eye from time to time. Taking a swim in the canal is not how you want to remember the walk.
5. Watch where your fellow photo walkers are walking. Hey, it happens to all of us at times- we get so into the photo that we forget our toes are inching over a ledge. Help each other out if you notice the person next to you is about to ‘step in it’.
6. Most most most important- Have a really fun time! Ask questions. Answer questions. Meet other people that enjoy photography too.

    Leader News & Updates

  • By Chad Stuart (0)

  • Congratulations Daniel on Best Photo

    Posted October 12, 2011

    Let me be the first to congratulate Daniel for the Best Photo award. This photograph of a young man transporting furniture through the alleys of Xiaozhoucun really captures the essence of life and living in this tiny village- from the narrow paths and tight fitting gateways, to the simple age-old brickwork of the buildings.
    The choice of saturated color to overpower an otherwise minimal color palate works well to separate the tonal value of the bricks. And the single point of solid yellow in the boy’s shirt really draw the eye into the image along the leading lines which enter from every corner to rest just south of center.
    Choosing to keep so much of the field in focus allows us to explore every region of the composition.
    I really enjoyed the tension created by the bold foreground furniture- table and chair stacked, being squeezed through the narrow entry. It left me wondering; “if it is this tight a fit now, how will the person further down the alley over the boys shoulder fair when the two pass soon after the moment of capture?”
    The choice was not an easy choice, however. Every photograph entered was remarkable. Certainly, together, these images truly define Xiaozhoucun village as a photogenic hot-spot of Guangzhou.
    Congratulations to all of the photo contestants. Your work here is fantastic.
    Thank you all for your participation. I look forward to next year and how much further we will go between now and then.

    Best regards and happy shooting,

    CS Owsley

  • A Flickr Group to share your photos- now available

    Posted October 1, 2011

    Great Photowalk everyone! Thank you for making today’s event a real success.

    I’ve added a Flickr Photo group for our walk. You can see all of our pictures from the day and share your photographs if you like- the choice is yours. Our Flickr Photogroup is www.flickr.com/groups/xiaozhoucunphotowalk/.

    There is also an International Photogroup where you can view pictures from cities around the world: www.flickr.com/groups/wwpw4/

    Don’t forget about the contest! 

    With the walk complete, you will be able to submit your single best photo from the walk to the contest. Submitting a photo to the contest is not required, however, there are lots of great prizes available to the winners!

    Contestants have a chance at winning Scott Kelby’s newest book, Light It. Shoot It. Retouch It., a full Adobe CS5 Suite, Epson R3000 printer, Nik Software Suite, OnOne Software Suite, Westcott Lighting Kit, B&H Gift Card, iPad (32GB), NAPP Membership, Kelby Training Subscription, Full Library of Kelby Books, and Photoshop World Ticket!

    The contest deadline to submit your best photograph is 12:00 noon EDT October 7th.

    Scott Kelby, or someone on his behalf, wrote this about the contest rules in the FAQ:

    Q. What are the rules for pictures I can submit to the contest?
    A. We’ve had a ton of questions each year about this. Most recently, we’ve had lots of questions about model shoots during the walk. Here’s how we feel about it: you can shoot models as long as it happens on the walk route, during the official 2-hour (approx.) walk time chosen by your walk leader. Also, you can use Adobe Photoshop to your hearts content, as long as everything in your photo was taken during the official walk hours along on the walk route. You can’t go back at sunset and shoot it in better light, and so on. Also, you can’t add a better sky that you shot in that same location on some other day. Basically, whatever you submit, it has to be taken during the official walk you participated in. You can shoot panos, HDR, B&Ws, you can create collages, you can process them with Instagram on your iPhone—I don’t care—it just has to be all shot during your 2-hour walk. If you don’t agree with the rules, no sweat whatsoever—just don’t enter the competition portion of the walk.

    Good luck to everyone who enters!

    ~Chad Stuart

  • Directions to the Photowalk

    Posted September 28, 2011

    The walk is just a few days away and things are really looking good for us to have an exciting day. You may be wondering just how to get to the meeting point. Well, here are some public transportation routes to get to the starting point- from both the north and south GDUFS campuses. If you are coming from other parts of Guangzhou, it may be best to follow the North campus directions as they tie into the Metro at Line 2 and Line 8.

    From GDUFS North campus: (Allow 2 hours for transit) You can travel by bus or subway+bus.

    Bus Only- Take the 245路空调 at 外语学院 (Waiyu Xueyuan- the stop outside the front entrance and across the road) to 体育东路站 (Tiyu Donglu). Take the 45路空调 to 小洲(总站) (Xiaozhou Zongzhan) From this stop, the gate to Xiaozhou Ren min Li Tang (小洲村人们礼堂) is just a few dozen meters away at the bend of the road‎.  (从广东外语外贸大学校本部走约260米到外语学院(白云山西门)站2乘坐245路（坐18站）到体育东路站转乘45路（坐17站）到小洲总站下。走约310米到小洲村(小瀛洲))

    Subway + Bus -外语学院站  Walk to 萧岗(Xiao Gang). At 萧岗 (Xiao Gang) take  地铁2号线 (No. 2 line) Subway towards 广州南站 (Guangzhou South Train Station). At 昌岗 (Chang gang) transfer to 地铁8号线 (No. 8 line) Subway towards 万胜围 (Wanshengwei). Exit at 赤岗 (Chigang) Station‎.  Walk to 赤岗‎ (Chigang) bus stop and take the 252路空调 Bus to 小洲 (Xiaozhou). You have arrived. Look for Xiaozhou Ren min Li tang (小洲村人们礼堂).

    From GDUFS South Campus: (Allow 40 minutes)

    Take the 382 from campus to McDonald’s (北亭广场). Transfer to the 252路空调. Take the 252路空调 to Xiaozhou (小洲). You have arrived. Look for Xiaozhou Ren min Li tang (小洲村人们礼堂)

    From whichever point you begin, look for this bus stop at Xiaozhou cun and you’ll have found our meeting point.

    Xiaozhou bus stop
    If you see this bus sign then you’ve arrived at the proper Xiaozhou bus stop for the photo walk.

    See you Saturday!

  • Did you see the F.A.Q page?

    Posted September 23, 2011

    Hi there!
    This week has seen a tremendous amount of activity as people join up for the walk- that’s great. All of the excitement of signing up and commenting on the walk with friends might have left you with a question or two about the details of the walk. Well, there’s an F.A.Q link in the top right corner that you might find helpful. F.A.Q stands for Frequently Asked Questions. This is the page that will try to answer those questions for you. But you don’t even have to click the link just yet cause I’m adding the most pertinent questions, or questions that have come up in conversation this week, below this sentence. Right down here…

    Q. What is a Photo Walk?
    A. It’s a social photography event where photographers get together (usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town) to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.

    Q. Is there a fee to participate this year?
    A. Once again it’s free—there is no fee to join this year’s Photo Walk—just come and have a ball!

    Q. How many is full?
    A. Photo Walks are limited to 50 photographers. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, you haven’t seen 50 photographers coming down the sidewalk at the same time, and later all converging at once on a restaurant or pub. It’s more like a scary bike gang (except without the bikes, or gang, or scariness).

    Q: Is there an age restriction? Are children allowed to participate?
    A. While we do not have an age restriction, we thought it should be up to each walk leader to decide whether they want to allow children on their walk or not. Check with your leader to see if children will be allowed on their walk.

    Q. What are the rules for pictures I can submit to the contest?
    A. We’ve had a ton of questions each year about this. Most recently, we’ve had lots of questions about model shoots during the walk. Here’s how we feel about it: you can shoot models as long as it happens on the walk route, during the official 2-hour (approx.) walk time chosen by your walk leader. Also, you can use Adobe Photoshop to your hearts content, as long as everything in your photo was taken during the official walk hours along on the walk route. You can’t go back at sunset and shoot it in better light, and so on. Also, you can’t add a better sky that you shot in that same location on some other day. Basically, whatever you submit, it has to be taken during the official walk you participated in. You can shoot panos, HDR, B&Ws, you can create collages, you can process them with Instagram on your iPhone—I don’t care—it just has to be all shot during your 2-hour walk. If you don’t agree with the rules, no sweat whatsoever—just don’t enter the competition portion of the walk.

    Q. Is there a Grand Prize?
    A. You betcha!! Details of the prize packages can be found in our Prizes page (Top prize is awarded by Scott to the single best overall photo taken that day, from all the Photo Walk locations around the world).

    Q. Are there other prizes?
    A. Scott will also pick photos for 10 Finalist prizes, and there will be one People’s Choice award that will be voted on by you! Whatever photo you all vote as your favorite will get a great prize!

    Q. Do I have to enter the prize competition?
    A. Absolutely not. This is a totally separate part of the experience, and if you don’t want to enter your images, you absolutely don’t have to (it’s just to make the experience more fun). Some people freaked out last year thinking they were required to enter, but just know—you absolutely don’t have to enter your image—you can go and shoot for the day, and never let anyone see your photos. Ever. They can be your private “secret” photos.

    Q. Where can I share more of my photos from the walk?
    A. While you can only submit one image for the contest, you can upload up to five images per day at the Official Flickr Group for the Worldwide Photo Walk right here. If you don’t have a Flickr account, it’s quick and free to set one up!

    Q. Can I get a new password? I lost mine…
    A. No problem! You can get a new password right here.

    Q. What has been best thing that came out of this whole Worldwide Photo Walk thing?
    A. I think it was the fact that so many photographers have not only made new friends, but have gone on to form their own photo walks during the year. This is totally a social event, and that’s why makes it so much fun. Most of the people on my walk had never done a Photo Walk before, but everybody had so much fun, they all wanted to do one again right away. Photo Walks are infectious, because when you get that many creative people together, who all have the love of photography in common, you can’t help but have a great time.

    This isn’t the full list of questions. If your question isn’t listed here head over to the F.A.Q page. If it still isn’t answered there is a link at the bottom of the page to send in your question. Or you could just call me! (not at 2 A.M. please)

    The walk is in one week. In the coming days watch for a few more updates with details about the route, bus #’s and nearby stations, who to look for that morning and where, and plan “B” in case of horrible nasty weather.

    Enjoy your evening and I’ll see you in a week!

    Chad Stuart

Comments for this walk 20 Responses to “Guangzhou, Guangdong China (Xiaozhoucun village 小洲村)”

  1. Kevin Ho says:
    September 20, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    I really want to communicate with other people who have great passion to take photo. I suppose that it will be a splendid activity. By the way, Chad’s class is amazing and inspirational.

    Reply
  2. Kexuan Xu says:
    September 20, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    It seems that I’ve joined this walk successfully ╮(╯▽╰)╭ ~

    Reply
  3. Swallow says:
    September 20, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    I totally agree with Kevin Ho that Chad’s class is inspirational and intersting.
    When I heard about this photo walk, I come up with an idea that participating in the activity.
    I want to make friends with other people who loves catching the image by camera. And after the activity, we can share our photos with each other.
    But, I’m not sure if there will be so many people crowed in xiaozhou on national day. And maybe my family has a plan for the vocation.

    Reply
  4. Huang Jinwen says:
    September 20, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    ok

    Reply
  5. Zheng Jianmin says:
    September 20, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    Hope we can have a good holiday with Chad and other photowalkers!

    Reply
  6. Venus Fung says:
    September 20, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    I succeded in joining,too. YEA,looking forward~

    Reply
  7. Wei Chen says:
    September 20, 2011 at 11:26 pm

    This will be the first National holiday that i have spent with my classmates instead of my family. I really love Xiaozhou Villige.

    Reply
  8. Ho Kevin says:
    September 20, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    WHY? Ii’s so hard and rough for me to register ’cause the computer’s security guard~~ OMG

    Reply
  9. Wenxin Shi says:
    September 21, 2011 at 12:32 am

    Here I am~hehe

    Reply
  10. Caichan Lin says:
    September 21, 2011 at 12:52 am

    Me, too~~

    Reply
  11. Qianwen Wu says:
    September 21, 2011 at 6:35 am

    hey guys!!!wish we have a good time on that day.lol ^.^

    Reply
  12. Shuting Cao says:
    September 21, 2011 at 9:13 am

    I decide to go back to Shenzhen a day later so that I can join this fun activity!
    Really excited about it. ~

    Reply
  13. li hailin says:
    September 22, 2011 at 10:35 am

    Thanks dear Emma Du called me and told me the good news.I have gone to Xiaozhou cun several years before, it’s really impressive me. I’m very excited for the photowalk.

    Reply
  14. Chad Stuart says:
    September 26, 2011 at 7:31 am

    The extended forecast is calling for heavy rain and thunderstorms Saturday which got me thinking- what if it’s raining Saturday? So, we should plan for an alternative walk day in case of rain or inclement weather. Here it is and it’s quite simple really; even if it isn’t so practical for everyone.

    Saturday morning I’ll check the weather around the village. If rain is pouring down at 9 A.M with no end in sight, we’ll postpone the walk until Sunday, October 2nd. Everything else will remain the same- same time of day, same meeting point, and same route.

    Gray skies do not count as foul weather. We can still enjoy a great walk under overcast. In some instances that makes for better lighting. We can talk about that along the walk.

    If the rain is still pouring on Sunday we will postpone the walk until Monday.
    If postponing is necessary, I will put an update on the website. On the morning of the walk, check this page one last time a little past 9:00 A.M. for any changes. If you don’t see any new updates, the walk is on!

    Unfortunately, Monday is as far as we can push the walk without affecting other holiday travel and considerations. The following weekend is the world-wide deadline to complete the walk, however, the majority of the people who have joined the walk, including me, have work hours Saturday, the 8th, and Sunday, the 9th. Pushing the walk until then simply isn’t possible.

    I understand some of you have travel plans on Sunday. If the walk is postponed and you cannot make it because of other obligations I completely understand and I apologize now it that does happen. Come Saturday, if there are natural events which prevent us from walking, do not worry about returning to the site to remove yourself from the walk. At that time, too many other things may be of greater concern to you.

    That’s it. There is our Backup Plan. Rain and thunderstorms Saturday- We walk Sunday. Rain and storms Sunday- we walk Monday. Rain and storms Monday- the walk is called off.

    Crossing fingers the rain will hold off.

    See ya’s Saturday!

    Chad Stuart

    Reply
  15. Javier says:
    September 27, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    Signed up and ready! Looking forward to meet more photographers in GZ!

    Reply
  16. Ata Adnan says:
    September 28, 2011 at 1:16 am

    yes,joined:D.will be fun!

    Reply
  17. Chad Stuart says:
    October 1, 2011 at 3:51 am

    Hey everybody,
    That was a great photo walk. Thank you so much for making today a fantastic event. Weather cooperated, we didn’t get ‘too’ lost, there was a great turn out. I’m really happy to have met all of you today and I look forward to keeping in touch and doing more fun photo adventures together in the future.
    Very soon, I’ll have a link to the photo group up in the Update section of this page as well as link to my continuing photo blog where you can see updates about other activities I’m a part of or organizing and to link up on some of the social sites.
    Thanks again for being a part of today’s event.

    Best regards,
    Chad Stuart

    Reply

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