A Thong and a Kayak

When I started to feel like I was getting better at photography I joined Flickr.  At first I craved the approval of other Flickr members by putting my photos in various groups to maximize the number of comments I'd receive.   Many groups when as far as creating virtual trophies that members gave to other contributors in hope that the favor would be returned.  I've since grown tired of this, but not with Flickr in general.

What I find interesting now is how people come across my photos.  In the past few days I've seen a huge increase in "Ronnie James Dio" searches reach my photos, which makes sense with the passing of the metal God last Sunday.  Some of the searches, however, are more puzzling.

Last year some friends and I went to the New Hampshire lakes area.  I happened to have my zoom lens on when we stumbled across an interesting characters getting her kayak ready for voyage.  She had obviously not prepared for the event as she was wearing thong underwear and a t-shirt.  In my book that's perfectly acceptable and not far from a traditional bathing suit, but I found it funny enough to take a few quick shots from a safe distance.  I never would have guessed it would be the most viewed photo in my Flickr collection by over 3,000 views.  The photo itself now has over 4,500 hits with the next non-thong photo having only around 400 hits.  It averages 20 hits per day still.  In keeping this someone family friendly I won't post the photo directly, but you can find it Here.

How do people find this photo?  There are the obvious options such as "kayak", "thong" and "bikini".  But on a daily basis people search for "Kayak Thong" or "Canoe Bikini".  I'm yet to learn if this is a fashion related search or a fetish.  There's another photo involving someone holding 2 ice cream cones that I labeled "Double Fisting Soft Serve".   While you can imagine some of the searches one troubling and re-occurring search is "Soft Fisting".  I don't have the stomach to put that into a google search, but I hope my photo isn't front and center.

A few times a week people search for "Lego Spiderman" and "Olden Day Beds" and get my photos.  Those seem harmless and consistent.  After a trip to Italy I took a photo of a lady pulling her child on a raft that said "Formula Uno".  That received tons of hits as I assume it's a popular sport in Italy.  I'm not sure if they were disappointed when it was just a lady in a bikini, but they clicked it.