Last Saturday Sept 26th I joined 14 others on a Photawalk in Cork City. I have to admit I was not sure if it would not be my thing so as I headed to meeting point at the Montenotte Hotel I saw the day more as work then a day out.
I was wrong. It turned out to be a very enjoyable Sat morning of meet, greet, eat & chat.
Before we started we chatted over tea/Coffee & scones at the hotel. We then headed for the roof of the Montenotte Hotel & enjoyed a spectacular view of the Marina & the docklands. I am a local boy originally from near the Docks. The view from the hotel roof brought back a lot of memories as kids the docks was our playground. How are we still alive I thought with all the stuff we got up to.
We left the hotel and headed down Sumerhill. It is amazing how much you can see when you are not in a car. I had not walked around here since I lived in a manky bedsit back in the 1980s. Lovely area, horrible bedsit. We made a turn halfway down on the pedestrian bridge that brings you to the train station entrance. Some good photo shots of trains & the new Cork/Swansea ferry.
We eventually ended up at our finishing point the Boardwalk Bar & Grill on the quay near City Hall. After a lot of pics outside we headed in for a really nice lunch. It was only my 2nd time in here and really like it. It is a bit different to other restaurant bars around. Good food also.
Four lucky people got to round off the day by taking a speedboat trip down the harbour complements of the Boardwalk Bar & Grill.
Overall it was a great fun but I wonder how my pictures don’t look as good as the others (mine on top) Maybe size does matter.
For Hotels
When we try to come up with ways of getting more awareness for our businesses we tend to come up with the old tried & tested routines. There are other ways by trying to engage with your community and running events that have mutual benefits & you don’t have to do the hard sell. The Photo walkers took the shots they wanted to take.
Finally I would like to thank the following.
The Montenotte Hotel for the 3 free rooms, access to the roof & the tea/scones.
John Gately & Neil Prendeville’ of the Boardwalk Bar & Grill for the complementary lunch and speedboat trip.
Donncha O Caoimh who led the walk and all the gang who participated.
Damian Mulley www.mulley.net & Eimer Walsh of webassist who helped come up with the event and helped publicize.
Nigel Robertson of www.sixmiledesign.com for work on the Montenotte Hotel website & SEO work.
For some great shots (not mine) of the day check links below.
http://inphotos.org/cork-photowalk-gallery-montennot/
http://pix.ie/willknott/album/355954/page/4
http://www.flickr.com/photos/omaniblog/sets/72157622463090158/
4 Responses to “Cork Photowalk Sept 2009”
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Thanks for organising the photowalk. It was easily the best photowalk I’ve been on. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I’ll see you at the next one!
I am glad you enjoyed Kevin
Pat,
Thank you very much. It was my first time on a “photowalk”. The great things was how relaxed and informal it was. No fuss, no bother. I was afraid I’d feel out of place with my little digital compact camera among all the serious heavy lens hitters.
You flag up a need for hotels to “engage with your community…running events that have mutual benefits & you don’t have to do the hard sell…”
You are so right, especially the point about mutual benefit. When I see how often I’ve used the term “Montenotte Hotel” in my writing since Saturday I realise how pleased I was with the association with that business. I’ve blogged, twittered & Flickrd about the hotel, without even realising I was spreading the message that Montenotte Hotel is worth knowing. (You can find my blogpost on the day by clicking on the link here.)
Pat it was great to meet you. Thank you again for being so welcoming.
Thanks for the comments Paul. I hope the Hotel can get involved with more events such as this. Dont worry about the small camera you saw my one. My pics not as good as all the rest but I am a photo virgin. Maybe it is not the size but what you do with it Lol.
I will be better next time. Please let me know if ye are doing other walks and I would love to join up for the day.