Just wanted to share my story so far with Google Maps Local Guides.
I joined and made it to Local Guide back in 2014, I posted about 50 photos and many reviews.
Just recently I bought a Hasselblad L1D-20c for recreation, in about 2 weeks I’ve added 57 360° photos to the database, all approved instantly!
I now have the available for hire button but read it takes weeks to get into the database.
In my journey obtaining 360 photos throughout Dallas Fort-Worth area, I also took some incredible stills.
Most have similar quality to this, but this one happens to be on a landmark icon, and it got noticed.
The Lakewood Theater is a local icon and in danger of being altered or removed. I did not know this when I took the picture, I just liked the tower.
The owner of The Balcony Club (pictured) reached out to me personally and thanked me for this picture. (I get free drinks there now!) It was also shared on Facebook hundreds of times.
But the most amazing thing about this picture is this - this photo is going to be published to a magazine next month with 175k subscribers and my name will be included with it!
I’m just a hobby photographer, thinking about to get into selling, and what a leg-up Google Maps has provided me by allowing me to share my work with the world.
Keep on sharing 
here’s my photo - https://goo.gl/maps/Ws9h8jJCcbT2
a block over, at the Wells Fargo, 360 photo example
https://goo.gl/maps/nbrNquBHwSC2
And a still from the same spot.
https://goo.gl/maps/Tjb9ygFnhpx
Thanks for taking the time to view my post!
