LordBalfor

I've posted a collection of high-resolution photos of the Puerto Vallarta area on Webshots.com at the following URL:<BR><BR>http://community.webshots.com/user/lordbalfor<BR><BR>There are also collection of pictures taken in Tahiti, Hawaii, Bora Bora, and Rarotonga & Aitutaki (the last 2 in the beautiful Cook Islands). If these photos spark your interest, there are associated trip reports on Epinons at the following URL:<BR><BR>http://www.epinions.com/user-lordbalfor/show_~content/pp_~1/pa_~1<BR><BR>Hope the photos and info is useful.<BR><BR>Ken<BR><BR>

curious

These are old and see you repeatedly asking people to view them all over the place. Just wondering why? Do you make money for people reviewing your epinions? Can't think of any other reason.....

curious2

Curious, My thoughts exactly! I think he is going for a record number of viewings or something.

w

If I had been to all those beautiful places, I too would enjoy sharing my photos. So what! I really enjoyed them!

LordBalfor

Curious - To answer your questions:<BR><BR>1) I make no money from anyone viewing the photos. In fact, it ends up costing me money because I always take far, far more photos (often of subjects I wouldn't take pictures of otherwise) than I would normally so that I can be assured of some nice shots to place online. On my recent trip to the Cook Islands (for example) I took over 20 rolls of film. Buying that film, processing it, and having the pictures put to cd cost me several hundred dollars. I would have spent some of that money anyway, but if I were only taking photos for my personal scrapbook, I'd have likely taken only half as many shots (if that). So placing these photos online not only doesn't make me money, it actually costs me money.<BR><BR>2) I do make money from people reading my trip reports on Epinions - lots of it too - in the last year or so I've made a whole $2.76 from all the folks reading my La Jolla De Mismaloya trip report and an astounding $3.86 from myPuerto Vallarta write-up. Over the past 2 years I've collected a whopping $145.70 from my collection of 33 reviews. Considering that each review took me around 6 hours to write (I'm a slow writer), while writing I'm making an hourly wage of $1.35/Hr - and that's not counting all the time I spent taking notes on my vacation, researching various bits and pieces of infornation when I return, or going through and selecting the photos to place online - not to mention the hundreds of hours I've spent over the past couple of years responding to peoples e-mails who had specific questions I didn't address in my write-ups .<BR><BR>As you can see, I'm getting filthy rich doing this. <BR>So why am I doing this?<BR><BR>The reason is simple. When I planned my first long-distance trip 3 years ago, I had a very hard time finding good, unbiased information or any decent photos of the places I was thinking about going to. <BR><BR>...so when I returned, I decided I'd make things a little easier for other folks than it had been for me - so I started posting. I do make a little bit of money - but I'd post even if I didn't make any at all. I'm simply using the web for what the web was meant for - sharing information. If you don't want to see the pictures (or you've seen them already) - don't go to the URL's I leave. If you're interested, then take a look. The photos and/or trip reports may be old news to some, but new folks view these posts every day - and some of them may find the post useful. I'm also of the opinion that many people don't read the older posts, so every once in a while I post a reminder.<BR><BR>Anyway for what it's worth, that's why I post.<BR><BR>Ken<BR>

sweetsue_98

I write for epinions also, and LordBalfor has offered to share his photos, and yes his reviews also. I have not posted mine, but you might find some helpful information about a destination and pictures do help.