It started with travel. It was travelling and using Google maps. That was my start. Getting onto Google maps listings, checking reviews, seeing what's in the city, the town, the place I would be staying in. Looking at user uploaded photos and of course, also looking at the 360 panoramas, to decide if a park, an attraction, an historic site, was worth taking the time to visit, first I'd look it up. To see if a restaurant was good, and if the reviews seemed truthful and authentic enough to visit for a meal. What the restaurants presentation looked like.. I found Google Maps to be very helpful indeed.
Then sometime in 2017 I started to wonder if it might be worth uploading some of my photography to Google maps too? Would my pictures rise to the top, would anyone see them? Was placing pictures on Maps be a viable approach to marketing - by putting the pictures where the viewers were already looking - as opposed to trying to push them toward my own website? Well I decided to give it a go and I also became a 'Local Guide' too, it's all a part of the Google Maps program. I enjoyed the challenge of selecting one of my images of a well known (or not so well known) location; adding it to the Maps listing and seeing how it did, position, views, that sort of thing. That's the same Google Maps you have your Business Listing on by the way, it's all the same platform.
SPOILER ALERT - Since late 2017 and just over 700 pictures on 'Maps' I have received over 4 million views, an online record for me.
One fateful day, I discovered there was a way, and only one way, that Google would provide a photographer with an Official Approved Photographer listing. It was, and still is the Street View Trusted Photographer (SVTP for short) a listing in the form of an outbound link - from them - yes an official Google link!!! This is not a Google search result, it is an official approved link - and I wanted it. Of course with over 20 years of professional photography experience, first I tried to wag the dog by the tail. I jumped into the Local Guides forums with my crazy great idea "Hey Google, we know not all photographers are equal, why can't I have a SVTP listing, my shots are worth it". And Google said "You need to upload 50 approved 360° Street View Photographs and then you can apply to be a SVTP". I made a bit more noise, then I just gave in, I didn't give up, I gave in.
I decided I would learn how to make full 360 Panoramas, complete Photospheres, 360° x 180°, 2:1 and Equirectangular photographs; those are all descriptions of the same thing by the way. Yes, I really wanted that listing and the link!
Though to be honest at this stage of the game, although I had found some 360° photographs interesting, and used street view to get a peek at a destination.. I thought the whole thing was really just some sort of gimmicky photography; because more often than not, the actual picture was just not that good, or was really over processed, like crazy look-at-me-Kimmie HDR! I wanted the link, and I did not plan on going past qualifying for that outbound link from Google. But like most things it was not that simple; as I slowly learnt the complex camera mechanical side & also the computational software aspects of making 360° photographs. And with these structural elements under control. I began to understand several things. That 360° photography was no gimmick, and made to the same exacting standards I already applied to all my professional photography; that it was a valid photographic form that could deliver images in a way classic photography struggled to do.
I started to see that these moving images could be a game changer in the rapidly evolving world of photography; which had already changed so much since I started out with film and prints made in the darkroom. The same creative challenges were here too; and had to be solved to create great and inspiring 360° photographs. I found the work of Master 360° photographers to study and help light my way. And I enjoyed engaging with those images from all over the world, spinning them around - taking the tours.. and viewing all there was to see! Photography is after all, no longer restricted to flat print publications, it can embrace all the functionality the internet and computers have to offer.
I came to understand there were other ways to present and view 360° photographs, that are completely independent of Google and the Maps platform. Approaches that are more flexible, customisable, personal ways to present 360 and engage an audience, online and off, with sophisticated design and superior user experience.
This was yet another multi layered learning experience, because a 360° photograph is not a static photograph, and as part of a tour interacts with other 360 images, incorporating sound and static images as pop ups, text, 360° photography; virtual tours, it's an evolving photographic platform within the web itself! And I am still learning about that, lets face it, the learning never stops.
So these further 'discoveries' were good news to me as I was already questioning whether the so-very-many picture data gathering approach method prefered by 'Maps'. Was really the right approach to tell the story of a place, or particularly positive in terms of user experience. What I wanted for myself and my clients was in line with the goals of classic commercial photography. That did not mean a lot pictures. That meant a hero shot that told a story, then another image, another distinctive view, a true story telling narrative created by they photographers vision. This is something I know well and that I knew from experience would deliver a greater impression and superior engagement from the viewer. Which is what we want, and that's a win for both the viewer and the client.
Three 360° portfolios - Sails Resort & Uluru - Sydney Ocean Pools - Hotels and Travel in Venice, all saying something a little differently, just as you would expect when they each have their own individual story to tell.
Click To Activate - Double Click for Full Screen - Recommended
Telling Stories in Pictures all over..
Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia & The World.
0433 796 863
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