My name is Allan Krahl. I have been a photographer for many years and when spherical photography was made quick and simple with the advent of single shot spherical cameras like the Ricoh Theta II I quickly became focused on taking spherical photos and sharing them with the world via Google Maps. One of the things I enjoy most about spherical photography is how fresh new this technology is and that very few people are doing it. For many of the locations I have photographed I was the first and often only photographer to ever capture that particular scene in spherical. It is somehow exciting to be the first person to capture something in a new way and share it with the world. I also take pride in doing spherical well. Unlike many photographers who simply point and shoot, I always take the time to edit my photos before publication and there are a number of tricks I have leaned over the years to enhance spherical photos including extracting the nadir point for touch-up. I don’t like seeing myself of my tripod in the shot so I always take the time to edit those distractions from the nadir.
As for photographic subjects my favorite things to shoot and add to Google Maps are local landmarks, monuments and points of civic pride. I like tracking down interesting locations like monuments or memorials and bringing them to Google Maps. There have been a few locations I have stumbled onto such as the Payne County and Del City war memorials which were not a part of google maps until I was able to add them.