On this page: licensing and attribution, groups I administer, my thoughts on spam, my photography, more about me and my travels, and my profile statistics.


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Licensing and Attribution


Generally I reserve all rights on photos of people, but for the rest of my photos, low-resolution versions may be available under the Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States (CC-BY-SA-3.0-US) license or some other form of Creative Commons license (check each photo for details!). This means you are welcome to reuse my CC-licensed photos, but only if you give me proper credit (see next paragraph). Flickr annoyingly may indicate that my photos are licensed under different versions of the CC licenses, but I specifically reject that incorrect assumption and use version 3.0 unless I have stated otherwise in the photo description. I also really appreciate knowing where you are using them and receiving a free copy of the work is nice, too.

For attribution, I prefer that you link my username ("Willscrlt") or real name ("Will Murray") to my website (http://willmurray.name/). In print, you can include both, or just the website (since it includes my name). Remember Flickr's requirement that you link to my profile here at Flickr if you reuse my work.

High-resolution images (often up to 3072x2304) are available for use under commercial licenses. Please contact me with details of your intended use (format, material, length of use, distribution area, quantity of prints, etc.) if you are interested.

The flag icons above are from a public domain icon set designed by Mark James.


MY WORK HAS VALUE!
Photographers' Rights Group.

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Groups I Administer

I founded and am an administrator of the following groups. Each group is public and open to all. Please join and submit images to any group you find interesting!

• Colors of the World: Life Is Color! of the World · لألوان · 颜色 · Couleurs · Farben · ंग · Colori · 色 · 색상 · Cores · Цвета · Colores
Join • This group is full of bright, colorful, and interesting photos from around the world with a wide variety of subjects and colors.


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• Love · حب · Amor · 愛 · Aimer · Liebe · प्यार · Amore · 愛 · 사랑 · Amor · Amor · Любовь · <3 · ♥ · ❤
Join • Photos added to this group all express love in one form or another, from friends to family, young sweethearts to seniors, to buddies and pets.


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• Special Events · والمناسبات الخاصة · 特別活動 · Événements spéciaux · Spezielle Ereignisse · विशेष घटनाएँ · Eventi speciali · 特別なイベント · 특별 행사 · Eventos Especiais · Eventos Especiales · Особые события
Join • Themes change regularly. Photos focus on special events, holidays, and feasts, and you may only add photos around the time of the events.


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• Celebrate Flavor and Good Taste! · احتفال النكهة · 慶祝味道 · Célébrez Saveur · Feiern Sie Geschmack · जश्न मनाने के स्वाद · Festeggia Sapore · フレーバーを祝う · 풍미를 경축하십시오 · Celebre Sabor · Празднуем флейвор · Celebrar Sabor
Join • Photos of delicious food, beverages, restaurants, snacks, food packages, produce, etc.


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• Colorful People of the World · الملونة وشعوب العالم · 豐富多彩的世界各國人民 · Colorful populaire du monde · Bunte Menschen der Welt · विश्व के रंगीन लोग · Colorful popolare del Mondo · 世界のカラフルな人々 · 세계의 다채로운 사람 · Colorido Popular do Mundo · Coloridos pueblos del mundo · Красочный народов мира
Join • "Colorful characters" are the emphasis here. People who are interesting to look at and wonder about their life story. Photos should be colorful and generally cheerful. • Cultural nudes permitted (see rules)


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I am a moderator of the following group.

• Food for Special Days
Join • This group is for celebrating the special foods that go with special days.


…

All of my groups are family-friendly and work-safe. The co-administrator of my groups oversees many other groups, though several of them are adult-rated.

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Spam: Invitations, Required Comments, etc.

I appreciate invitations to add my photos to various group photo pools. Like most people, I appreciate original comments, awards, and pretty much any other indication that people appreciate my work.

On the other hand, I really dislike multiple copies of the same award or invitation, especially when it is mandated by group policy (post 1 + comment 5 or some such nonsense). As a result, I may delete such extraneous comments, because I consider them to be comment spam (the group is spamming my images). Consider this fair warning, because some groups may retaliate against their users if I delete such comment spam, thinking that the users did not meet their posting requirements.

Likewise, if my photo is invited into a group pool, I don't feel obligated to leave comments for other people. That's not to say I won't, but if I do, it will be because I really like an image, not out of obligation to a group policy that promotes spamming.

When it comes to invitations and comments, my own groups come first. I'm generally unlikely to invite a photo to more than one group, because I would feel like I am spamming. Sometimes, if a photo really seems to fit into multiple groups or deserves a particular award, I will do so. Any comments I leave are solely because I wanted to leave the comment, so my comments are meaningful, not robotic.

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My Photography



Even though I have won a national award for photography (much to my surprise), I do not consider myself to be a photographer except as an entry-level hobbiest. F-stops and other traditional camera settings confuse me, though I usually can tweak digital cameras enough to give me the picture I want. I think I have a fairly good eye for composition and color, and that is my greatest strength in photography.

I suppose the first camera I used fairly regularly was an old-fashioned Polaroid with the distinctive "kchuck-zschhhh" sound. There was something so magical about seeing scenes of life gradually appearing in the gray windows of film.

My first camera was a little automatic Canon 35mm. I mostly took slides, because that's pretty much all my family took. Of course now I'd love to have all those pictures as prints to more easily scan them and convert them to digital images. My scanner will scan slides, but it's rather a pain and takes a lot of time.

My next camera was originally my grandfather's. It's a Mirantz, and I still have it. It was an automatic, but with many more professional features I loved. The main reason it sits on a shelf unsused these days is because of the hassle and cost of buying and developing film.

Next was a Sony Mavica digital camera. The resolution was less than 1 megapixel, but it was still a huge step forward in the convenience factor. Instead of saving to memory cards, it used 3.5" floppy disks, which were still common when the camera came out. Some of my Flickr photos were taken with that camera.

After that, I used a Sony DSC-P150 digital camera, and I loved it. I should say that I shared it (still do occasionally) with my father. In 2007, I bought a Sony DSC-S650 so that my dad and I rarely had to share. It died (dropping cameras tends to do that), and I replaced it with an Olympus. I also had a Verizon cell phone with a built-in camera, but the quality and color was terrible. Now I have a Motorola Droid 2, and it's camera is pretty impressive for a cell phone, and it's great having a camera with me at all times.

I am slowly uploading some of my best photos from the past 10 years since moving to Sacramento. Earlier photos were on slides, and I don't really have the patience or time to scan them into digital format right now. Also, since I'm limited to only 200 photos (anyone care to gift me a Pro account?), I'm not in a hurry to fill that quota quickly.

I hope that you like some of what you see. I love receiving feedback, so please feel free to leave me praise or constructive criticism.



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About Me

I am single and in my early 40s living in Sacramento, California, USA. I grew up and lived much of my life on the Central Coast (Arroyo Grande and San Luis Obispo), and remain connected there through my friends. I have travelled throughout much of California. I have also visited Nevada; Utah; Massachusetts; Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Tupelo, Mississippi; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Internationally, I have crossed the border into Tijuana, Mexico for a day trip, and when I was too young to remember, my parents took me a little ways into Canada (along with several other states in the US that I did not include since I don't remember them either).

I am blessed to still have both of my parents and my two grandparents on my mother's side still living. It sucks when family members enter their twilight years and their health fails. But family is important to me, and I don't begrudge spending time with them, including trips to the doctors, running errands, and so on. It certainly beats the alternative of not having them around! Until 2010, I had always had pets in my life, most recently a dog and a cat. Sadly, they both passed, and we haven't had any new ones come into our lives (yet).

Since 2010, I have been the Information Technology Specialist at a weather sensing and instrumentation company in Sacramento. I am also an experienced computer and small business consultant, graphic designer, audio-visual and media consultant, and technology blogger. When I say "consulting", it includes talking about it as well as lots of hands-on doing it. I occasionally take college courses and certification exams to maintain and improve my skills, and also to learn about new things that interest me. I regularly volunteer for non-profit organizations. Altogether, I keep very busy. Flickr and other Web sites, along with reading books, photography, and watching movies on DVD or On Demand, are how I usually relax.



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Will's U.S. Travels (airport-only stops not included)


bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php

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Statistics







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