300,000 Views Celebration - Picture of the Day #5

For the final installment of my picture-of-the-day in celebration of 300,000 views of my photos online, I'm focusing on one that is one of my personal favorites.

Below is a shot I took in the town of Hoi An, Vietnam back when we visited there in 2006. Here, we see a bevy of activity at the daily morning market on the river. You can see other pictures I took in Vietnam online too: Hoi An HERE, Hue HERE, Hanoi HERE and Ho Chi Minh City HERE.

Picture by Marc Osborn. (C) Marc Osborn

What I like about this shot is that it captures many things I enjoy about photography:

• People - The make the world go around. So many different types involved with so many activities.
• Travel - What other places look like, what people do, what they wear, etc. are endlessly fascinating to me and a picture like this touches on many of those things. 
• Everyday life - This is a scene played out daily - and for centuries - at the Hoe An morning market. Seeing this slice of everyday life is interesting.
• Artistic merit - Yes, what constitutes "art" is certainly subjective, but to my eye the mass of conical hats, the motion of the people, the one woman just sitting in her little boat in the front...all combine to create what I think is a well composed and artistic look at the morning market.

I also enjoy remembering how I came to take this picture. The day I took it was to be our last in Hoi An. We'd had an early night the evening before, and as a consequence I woke up pretty early in the morning. Not being able to sleep, I decided get up, grab my camera and get a taxi into town from our beach resort hotel...probably a 5 minute drive. 

I knew I wanted to go to the morning market, and as I found myself nearing it I saw a bridge leading to the other side of the river. I thought...OK, if I go over to the opposite bank I can find a spot to get a great view. So I did. I threw on my telephoto lens and started taking pictures. Of the many I took from that vantage point, the one above instantly stood out. Sure, I was trying for a well composed image, but believe me...I have plenty of similar shots that are not as compelling as this one. 

Anyway, I was very glad to have ventured out early and on my own to see the market in the morning and conduct a little photo adventure.

NOTE: Copyright for the picture in this post is owned by Marc Osborn. No use of the picture for any purpose is permitted without prior written permission from Marc Osborn. 

Update: Top 10 Most Viewed Pictures

It has been a while since I reviewed the most viewed pictures on my Flickr Photostream, so I thought I'd revisit the list, see if anything has changed and - if so - if I could see or deduce anything about why that might be.

To re-set, for several years running the most viewed pictures of the nearly 3,000 pictures I've taken and posted to Flickr were alternatively my close-up shot of the Taj Mahal and naked cyclists at the annual Seattle areas Fremont Solstice Festival. After that, it has usually been a combination of pictures I took when we visited Vietnam in 2006 and a few of military vehicles or historic sites I've taken around the world.

As of August 13, 2013, below is the list of most viewed. You'll see there are some changes and some similarities. Counting down from the tenth most viewed to the single most viewed...

10. A Naked Bigfoot on a Bike at the Fremont Solstice Parade
9. Room Inside Peles Castle (in Romania)
8. Poenari Castle (in Romania)
7. Former South Vietnam Capital Building in Ho Chi Minh City
6. Aircraft Carrier Yorktown
5. Naked Bike Riders in the 2012 Fremont Solstice Parade
4. Pyramids of Giza and Camels
3. Naked Bike Riders in the Fremont Solstice Parade
2. Close Up of Taj Mahal Detail
1. Spiral Staircase in Peles Castle (in Romania)

My Most Viewed Picture

OK, so you see that three of the top 10 are still, in fact, naked bike riders. Oh how people like to look at naked people online...even if in this case they are all painted up. But, I will note that even if you add the views for these three pictures, they still don't out-do the #1 picture in terms of total views. Close, but not quite.

Also, you'll see a few pictures from Romania now in the mix, and in fact one of them is the most viewed. I chalk this up to Pinterist. Well, that and good photography by me of course!

I started a minimal Pinterest board a while ago as just another place to post my pictures online. Among the sets I created was one featuring shots I took when we visited Romania in 2011.

One of those pictures, the carved wooden staircase inside Peles castle, caught on there like wildfire and was re-pinned LIKE CRAZY for a long time over the last year or so. Why? Who knows. It is interesting and a good example of a spiral staircase. Perhaps it is an inspiration to people thinking about putting a spiral staircase in their homes...even if not close to the elaborate nature of the one I photographed. But that's as far as I can tell. In any case, that Pinterest activity spurred views of that same picture on my Photostream - propelling it past all the other previously most viewed.

The other Romania pictures are castle-related too, so there may be something about interest in "real" castles and what they look like. This is reinforced by the fact that five of the next ten most viewed (11-20) are also pictures of castles in Romania.

After naked bike riders and Romanian castles, the top 10 most viewed is rounded out by a shot of the Great Pyramids in Egypt, a building in Vietnam and an U.S. aircraft carrier. And you can see that the Taj detail picture is still viewed a lot.

To me, the list as of August 2013 seems very similar to previous time frames with the exception of views of the Romanian pictures fed by Pinterest.

Naked, Gay, Vietnam Taj...and Don't Tread On Me

As I like to do about once every quarter, the other day I checked in on my Flickr Photostream to see what were the 10 most viewed pictures of mine that people across the Internet were viewing.

 Most  were similar to quarters past. My closeup of detail on the Taj Mahal in India is by far and away the most looked at with more than 1,400 views.

After that it's a repeat from previous quarters with an aircraft carrier in South Carolina, the Don't Tread On Me flag, various pictures of Vietnam, the Beijing Olympic stadium and paraders from the 2009 Seattle Gay Pride festivities.

New to the top 10 and skyrocketing into place number eight in just about a month since I posted it is a picture of naked bicycle riders from the Fremont Solstice Parade in Seattle this year.

So, what does this tell us?

Well, there appears to be a massive appetite for close ups of the Taj Mahal. Who knew?

After that, for kicks I'll break it down this way this time...there seems to a pattern perhaps along political lines:

• On the left there are some free spirits seeking pictures of naked paraders and/or gay paraders and some travel shots of Asia.

• On the right there are some uptight and traditional people looking for aircraft carriers, the iconic "don't tread on me" flag that has become a symbol of the Tea Party and shots of "the 'Nam."

 But who knows?

My Top 10 Viewed Pictures + Observations

Now that we're in Q4 of 2009, here's an update on the most viewed pictures on my Flickr Photostream and some observations on what might be driving the traffic to these pictures.

Before getting started, you can click on the above link to see my full Photostream or you can click here to see the Top 10 set...or click here to access all my photo sets.

OK, first up, the Top 10...

• Overtaking the #1 position as most looked at is my picture Close Up of the Taj Mahal Detail with 410 views.





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• The #2 most viewed is the Beijing "Birds Nest" Olympic stadium. Another very similar picture I took of the stadium clocks in at #10. If combined, views of these pictures would make the Bird's Nest the #1 viewed picture.


• #3 and #8 are pictures of participants from the 2009 Seattle Gay Pride parade. Below is the one that came in at #3.

#4 is a picture of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown that I took in Charleston, SC.

• #5, #6 and #9 are pictures of places in Ho Chi Mihn City - the modern skyline, the former Republic of Vietnam presidential residence and US military vehicles.


• #7 is a picture of a "Don't Tread on Me" flag I took in Charleston, SC.

Here are a few observations about the top 10...

• Although it's only been on my Photostream since May, the picture I took of a "Don't Tread On Me" flag in Charleston, SC has shot up and into 7th place with 261 views. While I'm sure there are any number of reasons for this, one that I'm pondering is that this iconic Revolutionary War symbol and saying have been adopted by right wing "tea-baggers" as part of their real?/fake?/ignorant? protest against all things Obama and all things to the left of Glenn Beck. Hence, perhaps there are people out online looking for examples of this symbol.

• Six of my top ten most viewed pictures are from Asia - specifically Vietnam, China and India. So, people are interested in that area of the world it would seem.

• Two of the top ten are from a set of shots I took at the 2009 Seattle Gay Pride Parade. Diane and I went to the parade, I took pictures and posted them later that day. Well, over the next 48 hours I got thousands of views - in fact, my #1 most views in one day occurred as a result of that set with 2,954 views on one single day. The fact that two of these made the overall top ten is just a testament to how many people viewed the pictures.

• The fact that the the Bird's Nest stadium is still clocking in at #2 and #10 on this list a year after the 2008 Games concluded certainly speaks to how popular the Beijing Olympics were and how many people wanted to see a picture of this magnificent structure.

OK, that's it for now. I'll be back right at the end of December to report on a full year 2009 Top 10 Most Viewed list and observations associated with them.

The new photo of the week for the blog is also a picture I'd like to highlight here.

(Photo taken by: Marc Osborn)

In this picture you see the people of the Hoi An area participating in an activity that has taken place for centuries - the early morning rush of brining goods to market via the river. It was one of the many wonderful scenes Diane and I saw on our trip to Vietnam in 2006.

Here, I thought that the activity, accompanied by the mass of people wearing the conical hats made for a very interesting picture.

To get the shot, I woke up early and took a short taxi ride from our South China Sea-side hotel into the town. From there I walked to the market and then across a bridge directly across from the market. Even at this early hour, the town was beginning to hum, getting business done before the major heat of the mid-morning started to kick in.

At any rate, now in position, I used my telephoto lens. Zooming in I started taking shots. Of the two dozen or so pictures I took, I think this one came out best. I'm proud of it.

You can see more of the pictures I took in Hoi An by clicking here.

Pictures of Hoi An, Vietnam

I just posted pictures I took in Hoi An, Vietnam when Diane and I visited there in 2006.

Below are a couple images I took. You can see the full set by clicking - here.

Hoi An is a smaller city than others we visited on our trip. Located right near the South China Sea, the town was not destroyed by the many wars that have raged in Vietnam over the past century. As a result, it is a very well preserved example of old Vietnamese and Chinese architecture. China invaded and controlled Vietnam for quite some time back in history, so many of the buildings there reflect their influence.

Today, the city is increasingly a tourist destination with the proximity to the beach and the charm of the old town. We loved it, but I can see a day when it may become too touristy. I'm glad we went there when we did.

Anyway, check out the pictures to get a flavor of Hoi An.

MLK Remembered

Sadly, today is the 41st anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The murder happened in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968. Below is a picture of where this occurred that I took on a trip to Memphis in 2003. King was killed as he stood just behind where the wreath hangs today at the now closed Lorraine Motel. The shooter, James Earl Ray, fired from building across the street.

Although I was still a year and a little more from being born when this happened, I've learned a lot about Dr. King in my growing up and adult years - what he stood for, why, how he went about achieving his goals and more. This is the true testament to the man and all of those who followed him and others to really change the United States for the better.

Most people know of King's "I have a dream" speech and rightly so. However, the man did a lot more - and some would say more "threatening" to the establishment than that. For example, if you haven't done so, check into the March on Washington he arranged, look into his opposition to the Vietnam War and read about his Poor People's Campaign.  These were actions that crossed race lines and truly started to shake the established, traditional, conservative and moneyed interests country - for good in my opinion.

Which is why King knew it was all too possible that he might be killed. 

Unfortunately, here we are now on the anniversary of his assassination. 

It's a good time to not only reflect on what King accomplished, but why he was killed. Who would have wanted that? Why? Who benefited from his murder?

A view of Hanoi, Vietnam

As a baby born in 1969, Vietnam features prominently in the TV, movies and books I read or saw growing up in the 1970s and early 1980s. That's one reason visiting Vietnam generally, and Hanoi in the north in particular proved to be such a fascinating experience when Diane and I went there in 2006.

Suffice it to say, we had a wonderful time adventuring around the labyrinthof streets in old Hanoi, shopping, meeting nice people, eating at fantastic restaurants (some modern, some a century old) featuring both Vietnamese and French cuisine, taking a cooking class and much, much more.

I recently posted a few of the many pictures I took in Hanoi on my Flick Photostream.

Click here for the Hanoi set if you want to check them out. 

Better yet, go to Vietnam and see the country. You won't regret it.

Pictures of Vietnam

More pictures from our trip to Vietnam are now on my Flickr photostream - here.

Pictures of Southeast Asia Now On My Flickr Photostream

I have added pictures from our 2006 trip to Southeast Asia to my Flickr Photostream.

In particular...

Pictures of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam here.

Pictures of the region of Cambodia near Angkor Wat here. 

Enjoy.

I'll have more pictures from this trip to post over the next few weeks. And, if I can find the time, perhaps some thoughts on what we saw.