Like many of you, I spend way too much time in front of my computer. I blog (ya think!) Twitter, Drop Entrecards, Add friends on Social Spark and watch tons of podcasts. Many of the things I do online are to help me improve my photography skills. However, there is only so much you can learn from reading and watching podcasts before you have to go out and do it.

My wife has been part of a group on a site called Meetup.com. It is a website where you can find groups that do all sorts of different things. She is part of a mom's group that has meetups in our area. Through that she has met some very nice people and has had some very nice experiences.

Back on March 2nd I got a flickrmail from another user who was interested in my New England Photowalking Group. This was a group I set up so I could go photowalking with other people in New England. This is something that never really came to fruition. Why? Well, I didn't follow through. So here is this e-mail asking me if I want to join up with New England Photo Expeditions, a group on Meetup.com. I said heck yes. Why? Well, it accomplishes what I wanted to do, get together with other photographers in my area and photowalk. That way I could discuss photography, and learn tips and techniques from other enthusiasts and professionals. And best of all I didn't have to be the organizer (I am always the organizer and let me tell you, it isn't always fun.)

So this past Saturday Allison and I took Baby Eva with us into Boston to go on a tour of Boston churches. The group was about 22 people strong. We were the only couple/family in the bunch. That didn't matter as Eva became the subject of many photos during the day, she was a dream child (but I digress). During the course of the event I met Paul, a guy who is new to digital photography (I mean months into it) but he is totally decked out in the latest gear and the sweetest camera. We got to talking and hit it off, he let me try out some of his lenses and I looked out for him as he got separated from the group multiple times. He finally lost us entirely, but not to worry, I had my business cards (From VistaPrint none the less) and when Paul got home we exchanged a few messages and will meet up on our own sometime to do some photography.

The main thing I took away from this experience is that finding a group to send time with offline is great for blogging. Let me explain, because of my offline experience I have a great set of photos from Boston Churches and memories of an awesome day with new friends. And because of that I have many great new ideas for blog posts and new people to go photowalking with.

So, if you want to make your blog a little more interesting get out and do something that you find interesting. Then blog about it. Or even better, start a group of your own for bloggers in your area or something like that.

Drew writes four blogs, is an avid kayaker and a Transformers fan, he also does a mean cake plow. He recently completed taking 1000 consecutive photos in 1000 days. You can visit him at The BenSpark, The Wired Kayaker, Read To Me, Dad, Google is not God.

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