Years ago when neighborhoods seemed safer and children could play in the street, we used to have scavenger hunts going door to door. The parents would plan the event, gather all the kids and hand out lists of items to find. They then could have their grownup party without interference. We (the kids) would form up our teams, vote for a captain and plan strategy over the block of street we were assigned. Then we'd knock on doors and babble out the items we needed with eagerness much similar to Halloween night. What I remember best is the willingness and generosity of the neighbors, anxious to help to find those hard to get items. The lists were usually of little things, a #2 pencil, a feather, a penny with a certain date, etc. And even if our team didn't win, we had a blast and it made for lasting memories with friends.
Things are different now; scavenger hunts have to conform to the times. The one held at the June Pi picnic is a variant, whereby instead of getting items, you have to get photos of items.
So on a beautiful day, friends of the Washington Apple Pi gathered for the annual picnic. After firing up the grills, sharing lunch and having lively discussions of the latest Mac news, the instructions for the Photo Safari were given. Three teams formed up to compete and show how creative they could be.
Each team was given a camera and a booklet of the photos to find, capture or create. The booklet has many categories and choices to offer for variety and allow for teams to shoot what they like or do best, but only 22 photos can be final. The categories consisted of trying to recreate fine art, like the “Mona Lisa,” or a forensic snap shot of a crime scene. Others are to depict a cartoon or find an unusual object in nature.
The teams were quite ingenious; one team did a nice metamorphic picture depicting the stages of man's development, and two teams did quite vivid expressions of the painting “The Scream.”
In all the team that did the best also was the one able to create the most number of photos; otherwise the other teams were quite clever and if they had more time and inclination they would have been good contenders.
Photo Safari instructions (PDF, 2 MB)
Photo Safari results (PDF, 16 MB)