My photography featured on the BBC News website!

Yesterday, I found a photo I took in 2003 used on the BBC News site! It’s pretty awesome. Here’s what happened:

Back in 2003, I received a digital camera as a graduation gift. I used it to take a photo of one of my favorite signs: the sign for the Boring/Oregon City exit on U.S. 26. I was relatively new to photography; I don’t think it’s my best work.

The next year, I uploaded a copy of this photo to Wikipedia. I didn’t know any better, so I reduced the image to 512 × 384, which you are not supposed to do when putting photos on Wikipedia. If I had access to the original full-size file, I’d replace the one on Wikipedia. The closest I have is this Flickr photo, taken in the same session, which lacks the truck.

Yesterday, one of my friends from high school posted a BBC News article on her Facebook wall. According to the BBC, the village of Dull in the Scottish Highlands wants to become the sister community of Boring, Oregon. I followed the link because I, like almost anyone who attended Boring Middle School, was excited to see Boring featured in the international media. But then I saw the photo on the article, which they presumably took from Wikipedia, and said “HOLY CRAP! That picture of the ‘Boring, Oregon City’ sign? It’s my picture!”

I am extremely honored to find my work featured by the BBC!

Since many of my Flickr photos are available under Creative Commons licenses, I am used to seeing them occasionally appear on blogs. I believe this is the first time, however, that my work has been used in an international news story!