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Photos, More Photos!
The prominent role of photos in the new version of this website cannot have gone unnoticed. We even invested in a specific server to store all images! So far, the feedback on this aspect has already been great and hundreds of photos have been added. What I noticed as well is that this feature attracts "new" people: members that had not been that active before, who maybe found writing a review too cumbersome, or just are better photographers than writers. Submitting photos has become a simple and worthwhile contribution to the website.
In this week’s blog post, I’ll zoom in on three examples where you can make a difference with your photos.
1. Fill in the empty blocks on the List pages
Our goal is to have at least one identifying photo for each WHS, Tentative Site and Former Tentative Site. The ones we're still lacking can be recognized on the List pages, where they are displayed as an empty purple block:
Especially if you have visited many Tentative Sites and/or Former Tentative Sites, it can be a fruitful exercise just to browse through these blocks and see where you can add from your private photo collection.
Tip: select your best photo of the site and submit it via Images with a findable name (simply the site name, such as Stratonikeia or Varanasi). As always, the basic requirements are: horizontal, full size, own work.
2. Enrich the Galleries with views of Locations and Points of Interest
The galleries on the site pages (of individual WHS, TWHS, FTWHS) can hold a virtually unlimited number of photos. The idea is to show as many aspects of the site as possible: different components, different landmarks, different times of the year, etc. See, for example, the variety in the gallery of the Rideau Canal.
We have recently introduced Points of Interest (POIs) as well, and these all can have one image too. You can see the photos in the pop-ups on the maps when you click on an item.
These two groups overlap (so the same photo may be used at a site gallery and to represent the POI). This is the way to go if you have just visited a site and just want to share the best of your photos.
Tip: select one or two of your photos per site and submit them via Images with a findable name that also indicates what we are looking at (best is a combination of the site name plus the name of the feature, such as Hofburg in Vienna or Kathmandu Valley Patan).
3. Answer to specific requests
In the Forum Topic Looking for Photos, I regularly put in a request to collect photos on special topics.
The topic I am focusing on now is to cover all the Ecology connections. So I am looking for pictures showing the subject at a WHS – so maybe an African Wild Dog in the Okavango Delta, or an Albatross at the Galapagos.
The wish list consists of:
- African Wild Dog • Albatross Breeding Site • Anchialine Habitats (very specific, maybe someone has been to Yongcheon Lava Tube Lake?) • Anteaters • Bears • Cambrian Explosion (Burgess Shale?) • Cave-dwelling fauna • Critically endangered fauna species (Hawksbill Turtle anyone?) • Desman (good luck) • Dinosaur remains • Endemic Bird Species • Erg • Feral Animals • Fish • Gray Wolf • Gypsum • Ice Cave • Lava Lakes • Lazarus species (again: good luck!) • Living fossils • Living stromatolites • Mammoths • Molluscs • Notable examples of multiple speciation in one site (Lake Malawi chiclids?) • Notable Extremophiles • Obsidian • Pangolin • Permafrost mounds • Salamanders • Sea stacks • Sharks • Sloths • Snow leopards • Taiga • Tapirs • Tiger habitat • Underground river • Yardangs
To be clear: we’re looking for one photo per Connection subject (not for a photo each per connected site, that would be too extreme since there are over 30,000 of them). The photo will be used as the identifying image for the connection at the Connections Index page and in the top banner of the Connection itself.
This option is best for people who have unique, specific photos.
Tip: select one of your photos, give it a findable name (best here is the short site name plus the subject, such as Anteater in Tikal or Wolf in Yellowstone) and submit via Images.
Thanks to all who shared their photos already! A final note: if you use a suitable one in one of your reviews, you do not need to submit it twice: I will pick from there as well. As long as the basic requirements (horizontal, full size, own work) are met.
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