From February to May, 2021 we ran the Photography Walking Club – where we encouraged our communities to focus on a fun goal, whilst continuing to be healthy and active during the pandemic.

The club had been launched off the back of our successful winter 2020 campaign, 30 Minutes for 30 Days, where participants had to walk for half-an-hour, five days a week.

And it experienced great levels of participation, with some stunning photos of nature being taken by our amateur photographers. So how did it work?

One of the many photos entered into the photo club: this one is from Bob Pedley of a beautiful Berkshire sunset.

Essentially, the club piggybacked people’s regular, weekly walks by encouraging them to take photos with their mobile phones, too.

The photos could be of anything: wildlife, plants, a beautiful panorama, a fun selfie, the weather – it was up to them. However, for the final four weeks we introduced different themes to focus on, including wildlife, water, and Springtime.

Then on the following Monday, we would put a post up on our Facebook account (Apna Virsa) asking participants to upload their photos. They could enter a maximum of five per week.

A collage of images taken by participants during Week 2 of the club: as you can see, the standard is particularly high.

The best ones were initially chosen by our judges, and went into two semi-final online votes, with a final public vote deciding the top three.

Whilst we awarded shopping vouchers of up to £40 in value to the winners, there was also a special recognition prize, chosen by the judges themselves, for the photographer who showed consistent quality.

The three winning photos, left to right: First prize – Raj Tegala (horse), Second – Sushma Sharma (swans), Third – Bob Pedley (forest).

Antonia Lewis won the special recognition prize from the judges for the consistency of the photos she submitted to the club every week. This shot of a kestrel flying high also made it to the final public vote.

Rajnesh Tegala (left) won the first prize for her photo of a horse, while Sushma Sharma (right) won second prize for her snap of some swans at Windsor. Well done to them both.