A group of approximately 25 local San Antonio photographers panned the riverside with photographic eyes on Saturday during the Mission Reach grand opening festivities.
We traversed the trail system from Padre Park to Espada Dam for the sixth annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk, led by local photographer Jackie Burroughs Anderson. Step. Click. Repeat.
Most of these photographers will share their photographic perspectives on Google Plus, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #wwpw2013 and #wwpwsatx to join more than 28,638 photographers worldwide that participated this year.
Our group started around 5:30 p.m., right before sunset. The Mission Reach grand opening celebrations wrapped up at 8 p.m., leaving us with the tail-end of food trucks and festivities, but this opened up the Photowalk to dynamic lighting and end-of-day scenes on the trailway.
From fishing families, to friendly kayakers who playfully shouted “one dollar (per) photo,” at us to the much desired raspa and ice cream trucks at Espada Park, the 3.5 mile roundtrip trek was engaging from start to finish.
The newly completed structures, bridges, and trails are well groomed now and accessible to pedestrians, bikes and families. The facilities and trails are nicely improved, despite the government shutdown affecting our ability to shoot inside the Mission grounds. However, I am confident that our pack of photographers captured a wonderful representation of San Antonio’s Mission Reach. The river opens up farther south, revealing native, trees, creeks, acquecias, and plantlife that grace the Mission Trail.
The second group of photographers, led by Dennis Kelley, focused on downtown and both our groups ended the evening at La Tuna Ice House and Grill for a recap and meetup. The cool front rolled in, sending a little shiver down my South Texas spine, even with biking six miles, walking three and a half miles and extra hot chicken wings and sangria. San Antonians may be able to wear sweaters and hats now – at least at night.
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