Co-Sponsored By
Adobe

San Jose, CA United States (Historic Alviso)

Saturday, October 1st, 2011
0

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

Doug Nomura Contact Leader

Meeting Location & Time

Saturday, October 1st (04:15pm - 07:00pm)
Location: Note Change: 1195 Hope Street - Alviso Marina Park

1195 Hope St, San Jose, CA- United States

After the walk, meet at: Maria Elena's restaurant @1450 Gold Street

Best photo for this location

By Vijaya Prakash Doraisamy

Walker Photos

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


  • Cheisa Verdaguer

  • John Paul Verdaguer

  • Gerry Limjuco

  • Sankar Salvady

  • Karen French

  • Sheryl Pask

  • Raghuveer Makala

  • Marilyn Nourse

  • Lala Mamedov

  • Jonathan Moore

  • Gwen Moore

  • Brenna Chow

  • Aaron Andrade

  • Vijaya Prakash Doraisamy

Get Directions
Meet Time: 04:15pm - 07:00pm

Map is loading...

Photo Walk Description

This photo walk will be located in historic Alviso. This walk promises to be a great walk for beginners and advanced photographers alike and it doesn’t matter whether you have a point and shoot or a digital SLR, they all take great photos! This walk will offer participants an array of photo opportunities including boats locked in by flora, boats not locked in by flora, a marina, wild life, Amtrak trains zipping through downtown Alviso, historic buildings, murals and anything else your eye, imagination and camera may capture. At this time, we will meet outside of the South Bay Yacht Club located at 1491 Hope Street. There is street parking available, there is no formal parking lot.

We will assemble on top of the levee outside of the yacht club. We will then walk on the levee to the new Marina, then to edge of the wetlands, to the train tracks and then into downtown Alviso.

We will be shooting from late afternoon to a bit before sunset, and this should allow the group opportunities for some interesting lighting situations.

The terrain is relatively flat, but this can be a tiring walk and can be very windy. Please wear good walking shoes, bring water, sunblock, hat and a light windbreaker.

A little bit about me, while I’m not a professional photographer, but I’ve been featured on KQED for my wildlife photography. And when not shooting photographs, I herd cats and do IT security.

An important note, we need to stay on public property at all times. For example, we won’t be walking along the railroad track nor will we be walking in sensitive areas for wildlife or those areas explicitly designated with private or keep out signs.

After the walk,for those interested we will meet at Maria Elena’s restaurant at 1450 Gold Street. Maria Elena’s is a very casual Mexican restaurant. There is plenty room for us to socialize, chat and review the great captures from members of the photo walk! I look forward to meeting and participating in the walk with you.

Here is some information about the history of Alviso. http://www.historysanjose.org/neighborhoods/alviso/index.html

An essay about Alviso and a little writeup about Maria Elena’s

http://www.houseofannie.com/maria-elenas-mexican-restaurant-alviso/

    Leader News & Updates

  • By Doug Nomura (0)

  • New Meeting place - Alviso Marina Park

    Posted September 30, 2011

    A bit about Alviso Marina Park

    http://bit.ly/qfHxJX

    Has map.

    http://bit.ly/nsfaBx

  • Safety! Safety! Safety! And the Law!

    Posted September 30, 2011

    Safety is key for a fun and successful Photo Walk, stay on public walkways, watch out
    for traffic. Since we will be shooting near water, make sure you are standing on nice firm ground.

    Don’t go onto private property. Don’t walk on the train tracks – a month ago, I saw 2 photographers get a citation from a Santa Clara County Sheriff because they had been walking on the train tracks.

    See you on Saturday.

  • What are we going to photograph?

    Posted September 27, 2011

    The group will photograph whatever captures their eye. Since this walk will start in the “historic” district of Alviso, there will be opportunity to photograph:

    1) Buildings
    2) Lights reflecting off of objects
    3) Parts of decaying buildings
    4) Amtrak trains blaring through the downtown
    5) Unusual colored bodies of water
    6) Plant life
    7) Potential for interesting sunsets
    8) People doing what people do
    9) Boats
    10) Boats locked in by flora
    11) Patterns
    12) Shapes

    It looks like the light may be a strong ally for us, it is supposed to be “mostly sunny” meaning, a few wisps of clouds could produce some spectacular light.

    Keep your eyes and mind open! One of the old sayings in landscape photography, if what you are see looks like a great shot, look behind you – it may be better. In other words, look around – in front, behind, look at the ground, etc. Do a careful framing of the target and see if it would be an interesting photograph. Take your time. Have fun. See you on Saturday.

  • Preparing for the Photo Walk

    Posted September 27, 2011

    We are just few days away from the Photo Walk!

    Be sure to wear good walking shoes/boots. It will likely be sunny therefore wear a hat and have sun block. I tend to wear ear plugs if it is windy on the levees. Also, since it will likely be warm, please carry water. There will be rest rooms at the parking lot of the Alviso Marina County Park, and that will be about half way through the walk.

    Please make sure your camera batteries are charged. And if you are shooting digital, make sure your storage cards have plenty of room. Or if you are shooting film, please bring plenty of film.

  • Camera Gear

    Posted September 20, 2011

    Do you need a fancy digital SLR (dSLR) with a bag full of lenses to go on this walk? No. Certainly not! You can bring a film camera or a digital camera. It can be a point and shoot or a SLR, they all produce great photographs! Even if you want the camera built into your phone, that would be great too! In other words, this is a fun photo walk, bring whatever you are comfortable using!

  • Start time has been pushed back

    Posted September 14, 2011

    I visited the Photowalk route this past weekend, and the light is still very bright at this time of day. I’m pushing the start time back to 4:15PM and we will go to about 7:00PM. Sunset is scheduled for 6:53PM that day, and this will allow interested photographers to set up for some sunset photos.

    Tentatively because of the brightness of the light, we will walk into the historic district of Alviso first, there are quite potential subjects for interesting shots. Also, for those wanting to photograph an Amtrak train going through town up close and personal, there will be multiple opportunities. I’ve already published the train schedule on the main description for this Walk.

    This means we would still meet at the same place, but end up on the levees to end the Walk.

Comments for this walk 16 Responses to “San Jose, CA United States (Historic Alviso)”

  1. John Paul Verdaguer says:
    September 8, 2011 at 3:44 am

    Count me in! :)

    Reply
    • Doug Nomura says:
      September 8, 2011 at 9:15 pm

      John Paul – Great! Glad to have you aboard for the shoot. Within the next week or so,
      I will emailing people updates concerning the shoot! Thanks for joining the Photo Walk!

      Reply
      • John says:
        September 9, 2011 at 1:45 am

        See you soon! I’ll be coming with my wife she also registered for this photo walk. Hope to learn more from you and other photographers! Im sure it’s gonna be so much fun.

  2. Heather Crowhurst says:
    September 26, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    Hi Doug I have a question I am attending with my cousins Megan and Tara, are you ok with my son Thomas joining he is 4?

    Reply
    • Doug Nomura says:
      September 26, 2011 at 11:54 pm

      Hi Heather,

      I think that will be fine. We will move at a slow pace, so it should be fine for Thomas. In fact, there will be 3 other children on the Photo Walk, they are
      part of a children’s art class, and are a few years older than Thomas.

      Just make sure Thomas has any essentials – water, snacks, etc.

      See you on Saturday!

      Doug

      Reply
      • Heather Crowhurst says:
        September 27, 2011 at 4:17 pm

        Thanks Doug do I need to register him? Oh and essentials are always in hand.

      • Doug Nomura says:
        September 27, 2011 at 9:23 pm

        Nawww. Dont’ worry about registering him. Not unless he wants to start taking pics.

        The one area to exercise some caution is when the Amtrak train goes flying through Alviso and that may be a bit scary for him. Heck, it will probably scare some of the adults.

  3. margaret mish says:
    September 30, 2011 at 3:52 pm

    Doug,
    Looking forward to the walk tomorrow!
    Do you have an estimate on how far (duration) the walk is?

    Reply
    • Doug Nomura says:
      September 30, 2011 at 11:37 pm

      Margaret,

      Google Maps is estimating the length to be about 1 mile. That is probably a good length for
      such a large group, and I will also encourage people to divert from the map if they spy
      something of interest.

      See you on Saturday.

      Doug

      Reply
  4. Thomas Morrow says:
    September 30, 2011 at 7:18 pm

    First Walk, looks like fun :) see you there.

    Reply
  5. John Bolton says:
    October 1, 2011 at 12:32 am

    The park has a nice big parking lot, but it closes at sunset.

    Reply
  6. Sankar Salvady says:
    October 1, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    I dont drive here. Is there anyone going from Sunnyvale area, whom I can tag along with ?

    Reply
  7. margaret mish says:
    October 2, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    Doug and Group,

    I have created a Flickr Group for this outing.

    http://www.flickr.com/groups/1766492@N20/

    Doug, is there a way you can blast email the entire group this link?

    Margaret

    Reply
  8. vizcara says:
    October 3, 2011 at 2:38 am

    I would have to agree to the mention of staying off the railroad tracks as well as the home owners property near the tracks.. I know the owners of the property and have personally seen as well as been told of some very very poor manners of some amateur photographers. This is private property not photographers own personal playground to do as they please. Also I have seen photographers on the railroad tracks being extremely irresponsible. Heed the warning as Santa Clara PD will cite you and they do patrol the area from their sub station near by. Also please do not litter while there as you may think its okay to toss cigarette butts out a moving car on the freeway does not mean its any more acceptable tossing them out on the bay. Some of the behaviors I have witnessed have been down right embarrassing to me as a professional photographer. I go there to shoot and make a living and like to continue to do so without a few bad individuals ruining it.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

 

Please Log-in

Lost your info?