Google Street View Trusted Photographer

I am excited to share the news of my recent certification as a trusted photographer by Google Street View, it basically means you can hire me to make 360° photos and upload them into Google Maps.  By doing so, you can reach potential clients who are looking into the internet for a place to eat, drink, sleep, do sports, get a haircut, buy a house, etc.

As some of you might know, besides photography, I do lots of things related with communication and digital media. So for a while I've been creating content for most social media platforms. While creating this content and designing communication strategies for projects and clients, I had to learn about Google and the tools it offers to increase, not only the chance to appear on the first page of a search, but also to actually deliver information and content that is reliable, useful and updated.

It all started around three years ago; one summer night I decided to go for a bike ride which ended up at “El Luchador” (The Fighter) a local bar nearby the train station. While drinking a beer and looking over Google Maps for an interesting destination to continue my ride, I noticed the bar pictures didn´t transmit the spirit of the place; since I was carrying my camera and I was pretty much the only one there, I though it will be a good idea to shoot and upload a couple of photos, so when tourist or newcomers looked out for a more local experience, they could find El Luchador interesting and appealing.

Time passed and I forgot about those photos until last year, when I created an account on Google Street View. While opening the account I was asked if I would like to become part of Google's Local Guides Community, and for sure I said “yeah! Why not?”. Next thing I know I was already a local guide level 3 (now 6) thanks to all the views the photos from El Luchador have had since the day I upload them.

From that moment many things had happened, I did not only became very active in the community but also started to make more 360° photos; also my knowledge is wider now that I understand the roll this kind of content is playing on a platform such as Google Maps. So this certification arrives in a very exciting time for my professional life, a time in which I can combine perfectly four of my passions: traveling, writing, photography and strategic communication.

I am happy to create and share content that can help people make any kind of decision, that's at the end one of the main goals of a journalist. The issue now, compared with the time before the internet and social media, is the huge amount of information that is trying to catch our attention, versus the little time we have to develop a criteria to choose the right source, or at least to deal with all that noise. So, to be part of the community that is inspiring and helping others to discover new things and choose better, is a great honor that I am willing to enjoy and combine with my work in the years to come. 

Here is my top five 360° photos; you can grab them by holding the left button on your mouse, if your are on a laptop or a desktop computer; and if your are on a mobile device, you can check the photos right into Google Maps to have a better experience; either by using your finger and sliding across the photo, or by using a Google Cardboard to have a VR experience. If you would like to check all my gallery you can visit my profile on Google Maps.