January Photowalk at the Enoch Pratt Central Library!

This past weekend Zach and I held our Winter Photowalk event and the first event of 2012. Fellow Photowalk Alliance member, Andrea, works at the Enoch Pratt library and was kind enough to offer us a private tour with exclusive access to some super cool library stuff (like a map of Mordor).  There were a bunch of cool things we encountered and we even had an impromptu bonus private tour across the street at the Basilica.

Zach and I showed up roughly 45 minutes early for the tour to get ready. I didn’t realize the doors didn’t actually open until 1PM, so we met a first time attendee and decided to head across the street to the Basilica to stay warm and pass the time.  In talking with one of the nice tour guides hanging around, we managed to swing a special tour where we got to see some places that were off-limits to the public. Not only did we get some cool shots of special chalices and the interior, but we were invited back when we have more time to take shots from the top of the dome looking down! (This will be our March Photowalk event- stay tuned for details.)

Once the library opened, we all headed over to start our tour. After meeting up with Andrea, we shed our jackets, screwed on our flashes, and headed off to the bowels of the library. Enoch Pratt’s central stacks are massive and cover multiple floors within the library. The stacks cover content ranging from recent fiction to historical maps to congressional records. The stacks also remind me of the first scene with slimer in Ghostbusters.

After we toured the private stacks (and found a DoD training ground on a map in the Chesapeake Bay) we headed to the public levels to see the architecture of the library. It is not hard to tell that this building was built in a much different era. However, it was very cool to see how the groups at Pratt were managing Maryland’s history while accommodating the digital revolution. Once we were finished touring, we gave out our “swag bags” from our sponsor, Yelp, and proceeded to draw a winner for the BlackRapid strap (also a sponsor). Donna (the winner of the BlackRapid RS-7 strap) is very excited to try it out on our next photowalk!