Dear all,
Greetings from India!!
Ever since my childhood, I was fascinated by this poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. In short it was about the options we have and the choices we make. As change is everywhere around us and the best way to capture the memories is by locking it in by taking a superb shot and uploading it on Google Maps forever.
Growing up I always had the memory of my grandfather showing me the rare collection of photographs taken by him. I must agree, that it was that time the seed of desire to capture the moments of life and beauty of nature got embedded in me. To make thinks even better, I was always lucky to have my father along who himself loved photography.
Growing up I always felt that every photo had a story to tell.
I recollect, internet was still at a nascent stage in India in early 2000 and was not commonly used by all. During that time I was in Kent, United Kingdom and received a call from my father about our house in India being visible through satellite image on Google earth. I was quick to get on to my computer and to my delight I zeroed in on my house. This was an amazing moment, to be able to see my house from thousands of miles away. At that moment, I really felt and hoped if that view could be further zoomed in and looked clearer it would have made it easier for me to show my house to my friends from there also. With passage of time there were changes and advancements in the way people could view our beautiful planet earth. Thanks to Google Street view, today it is possible and a reality.
Finally one fine day, i came to know about the Street View App and took this shot in front of my house.
Views started increasing and i was thrilled when they touched a 1000 view for the first time. That was the time i realized i had the best platform to capture and show the global community the world through my eyes. I started taking 360 Panoramic pictures and uploading them on my phone. I remember there were very few blue dots on google map in my neighborhood and then i decided that I should start taking the street view images at places which were not there on Google at that point of time. I knew that there were a lot of people waiting to see more and explore the unseen places. My objective was clear that I either had to climb a rock or stand in the middle of the market, but the reward was much more, with a few hundred Panoramic images I felt I was able to make millions of people view the places through my eyes.
I am very proud of my panoramic uploads on the Streeview app as it gave me the opportunity to show 360 Panoramic view of locations yet not seen by the global community. As I love to travel around the world, I hope to make many such images on every continent in future. I also share my images with a lot of people, to show them how unique the panoramic pictures are and how easily one could locate them on the Google map if they wish to travel there. For me it is a best way to convey to all what Google has to offer.
Lots of my friends and relatives still call me Mr. 360 or Hello Google.
I know the Journey has just begun.
First time :-
- at a round about https://goo.gl/maps/XZF9eY2uct8Sxoji6
- in water https://goo.gl/maps/EP4pmvtDamJVeb429
- at airport https://goo.gl/maps/RePaqvjDo4bL5hij8
- from my rooftop https://goo.gl/maps/x76gfpQuxh6ssfxQ7
charminar https://goo.gl/maps/ZSGXzhr7NBkEdpnD8
Thanks a lot for reading!!
Best regards,
Rohit