HDR Spotting Doing Well!

HDRspotting.com was started late last year as a spin-off of this site. We started it because we wanted to drive more traffic to and get more attention to other interesting HDR photographers and artists around the world. I knew that existing engines were not really doing a great job of spreading around and “creating” attention.  So, in essence, we have created what I call an “attention generation engine”.

I knew that my photos were above average — and I had over 20 million views on Flickr. But then I would look at some of by friends’ photos (and even the photos of strangers), and I saw they only had a few hundred or a few thousand — and their photos were just as good if not better! Anyway, I thought it was high time to make a new site, designed to generate more traffic and attention to other photographers out there, and that was the origin of HDR Spotting.

Since then, whenever I have a speaking engagement or photowalk, I always have nice people come up to me and tell me how much more traffic they are getting. Often times, their views have gone from maybe a few dozen into the thousands. That’s great! And I think it will only get better from here.

Note that HDR Spotting is still in beta and is invite only. I do not hand out codes. You’ll have to get a code from an existing member, but I understand they are sometimes handed out in the HDR Group on Flickr or on Facebook. Anyway, this concludes the little HDR Spotting update. Be sure to check out the HDR Spotting Front Page too — new photos roll in there on a constant basis.

Daily Photo – Deep in the South of New Zealand

I drove over 4,200 kilometers while there — it was just a wonderful experience. Towards the end of the journey, we started making deeper and deeper into the southern island, where things seemed to get more wonderful and wild every kilometer.

The weather was crazy the whole time!  It would go from sunny to violent little storms to random winds to perfect calm.  During one of those transition periods, I was halfway to Milford Sound by this beautiful little lake when this rainbow peeked out. I quickly got into position to capture it, but then realized I had on the wrong lens!  The 12-24mm was okay, but this really called for the 24-70.  Despite worries of rain getting into the chamber, I switched out lenses, doing my best to keep all the elements at bay.