The one that got away ...

I went to Moab, Utah last year and had researched all the locations I wanted to take pictures of; however, on the last day I was there, I was going to take a shot of Delicate Arch, you know the arch on just about EVERYTHING you see of Utah (even on their vehicles' license plates), but ended up on the wrong trail and missed it. I left the next morning so couldn't get the classic sunset shot I wanted.

So ... I just created www.FindTheShot.com to help prevent this from happening again. The site leverages the expertise and location knowledge of the photographic community. It's not just Flickr with geotagging, photogs can also put in time of day, month, equipment used, comments etc. basically everything you would want to know in a photo guide. But, I need photogs to add their photos and their expertise to make this site great. Check it out, add some shots, and would love to hear some feedback.

Thanks for the help.

I see you are selling ad space on your web site and you are running Google ads. What are you paying the photographers who provide content for your web site?

Hmmm.

I understand the point, but I can't relate to it. Since I strive to make unique images, from non-iconic viewpoints, it would seem counterintuitive to give out such details. No thanks.

Tom-Thanks for the checking out the site Tom. The google ads do not even cover the hosting of the site ... Right now this is a pure community website. The community adds to the site and the community benefits from the information. I am looking at downloadable guides by individual photographers that would allow for photogs to make revenue from the site but right now I'm really just focusing on the community aspects and building a great site.

Joel-Completely understand your viewpoint. The site does a few thinks to help photographers out. 1) by adding photos you help promote yourself and your personal site and every page with your shots on it has links back to your site (all boost Search Engine ratings by having these external links) and 2) as the pro photog market becomes flooded and stock prices are falling, pros are looking for new ways to promote themselves (guiding, guides, etc). So to Tom's comment, this will eventually be another revenue channel for the pros in selling e-guides for their private locations. All that being said, I received quite a few emails this weekend from other pros that are very excited in sharing their information .... so no clear winner on the debate yet.

Thanks again for the comments/feedbacks.

Photography guide books and internet sites ought not provide more than vague information about locations thus leaving it up to individual photographers to find their own spots to put down their tripods at. Thus someone simply stating North Coyotes Buttes is fine while giving a list of GPS coordinates for everything they found in order to sell some guide book or such ought to be condemned. Some of those using GPS are already smelling short term money by providing such information that to me is disgusting. There are of course a major percentage of outdoor nature and landscape photographers that have little understanding about where to go outside publicized areas and icons. Fortunately most pros with long experience are tight lipped about some of their favorite places but it only takes a few to ruin it for others. And the other major facet of the field equation is always going to be knowing when to go. Fotunately that is rather untouchable beyond generalities. ...David

Hey David, love the passion and I completely agree. The GPS coordinates are just used to provide reference and enable the site to work automatically with the mapping technology. The intent is to provide a similar experience to what you provide on your site. I think your 2006 Flower trip is a perfect example of the right level of content (http://www.davidsenesac.com/SoCal_4-17-06/SoCal_4-17-06.html). Feel free to shoot me a email, would like to get any more ideas you have on how to achieve.