The Barbarous Land Pictures: Savage Land on Flickr = One Million Views

This is an historic day for me as my all-time Flickr stats broke one million views. I have been watching the number climb into the 900,000`s for almost a month. Now there is no grand lever for breaking a million views, National Geographic won`t likely be contacting me anytime soon or anything like that but there is even a sensation of personal accomplishment in the fact that a billion people took some time out of their busy lives to mark out something I created.

he irony here is that I get done music and sound design for many TV, independent film and tv game projects, many of them experienced by millions of people. That is cool but I am but a tiny voice in those projects , so low that in fact the bulk of those people would never know I was partly of one of those projects unless they understand each and every production credit (I would probably be toward the end of the reference list). The Flickr stats are more personal because there was no advertising behind it, no ground for masses to watch out my page, the process had to bear on its own in a sea of millions of wonderful photos in the hundreds of Flickr groups I am partly of.How did it all start? Back in April of 2007 I joined Flickr, my very first photo placed online April 8th 2007 was a prospect of the metropolis of Orlando_I had only learned to do long exposures with a very simple point and shoot Canon S2-IS. Up until late 2004 I had been a cinematographer not a still photographer (and I hadn`t shot a picture for nearly two to 3 days at that). I started taking pictures again after I adopted my little girl because I loved taking photos of her life.In later 2006 I started taking photography very seriously. I linked the Orlando Digital Photography Group in Process of 2007 to take the fundamentals of still photography and base some great mentors by the names of Spencer Fisher and Charlie House. I learned about Flickr in the photo club and originally became a member but to position in the ODPG Flickr pool after our monthly events: http://www.flickr.com/groups/odpg/In December of 2007 our photo club took a trigger to the Albin Polasek Museum in Winter Park and during that spark I found myself looking at the earth in a completely new way; I would see something as it was and could visualize my impression of it. I could foresee how something might appear with the correct emphasis on color, lighting, composition; in other words I could see a shaft for what it could become. The visual post-production skills I learned in film-making would now be fully exploited in my still photography.In May of 2007 I observed an extraordinary photographer by the list of Ram Morrison http://www.flickr.com/photos/rammorrison/ who is from India. I was so blown away by his employment I had to save him to ask how on Land he was capable to get such amazing images. He introduced me to High Dynamic Range photography and helped me take the attainment of HDRI post process. HDRI radically changed how I went about capturing images and really fueled my creative fire. My first HDR image was of Casa Felize a historical place in Winter Park Florida. With that photo-stream post suddenly I started getting comments on my photography. I was so frantic to get positive feedback from other photographers that it pushed me to hold the skill further.From that place on I started spending many hours a week viewing and being crushed by other photographers on Flickr. My brain was racing with new ideas and so many great photographers answered the massive number of questions I started asking online.In September of 2007 a picture I posted of an Aston Martin got the care of Makes & Models Magazine and I was offered the opportunity to get the official photographer for the Festivals of Speed. I ever loved automobiles and it was a dream offer. I set down the place and shoot camera and learned to use a DSLR with the service of mass on Flickr.By February of 2008 I was offered a gallery showing of photography in Orlando. I had come a really long way in a class but I was yet in awe of shots that I launch on Flickr, I found myself constantly in quest of that next level of photography.My most successful photos on Flickr (based on stats) was the image based around the television game "The Mirror`s Edge" that racked up an astonishing 407,000 views due to multiple gaming websites featuring the photos; more details on that project can be found here: http://www.savagelandpictures.net/2009/10/mirrors-edge-photos-rack-up-407000.htmlbefore that oddly my most viewed photo was that of an RX7 that I guess at a automotive event that racked up about 13,740 views and I`m to this day still not exactly sure why?Fast forward to now and my million views of what is now a photo-stream of 1,010 photographs. I find my photography has cum a really long way from where I started but I am yet in awe of so many professional Flickr photographers that keep to cheer me with their creativity. I am finding that the creativity is endless, there is ever something new to be ground and learned. I nonetheless feel I am just getting started.So what photos and photographers inspire me on Flickr? Allow me to present you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/savage_land_pictures/favorites/show/I want to thank the 284 photographers that have helped me on my way. The number of names can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/people/savage_land_pictures/contacts/I would also similar to present serious thanks to the thousands of photographers who have commented on my influence and save me going strong!