It’s Not a Flickr, It’s a Flame
I’m hungry and I’m cold because I haven’t eaten or taken the time to put a shirt on. I haven’t been drinking enough water, I’ve gained five pounds from not going to the gym, and my living room is completely wrecked.
And it’s all Flickr’s fault.
I am so totally hooked. I’m hooked in a way I haven’t been since lemme think Paul, probably .You know, the crazy-hot Italian firefighter whom I allowed to break my heart four times in one year because he was so good I could never remember how bad he was? Yeah, that kind of hooked! I eat, sleep and breathe Flickr. When I can’t be with Flickr, I’m thinking about new, fun things to do with Flickr next time I can get there. I talk about Flickr constantly to anyone who will listen, and trust me, if it weren’t for the nature of the content, most would be mighty tired of being Flickr’d to death every time they see me.
I don’t know why now, when I bought this bad-ass Nikon D50 camera rig and all these expensive lenses over a year ago. Since then I’ve barely had it out enough to do justice to the *mumble mumble*-dollar-hole I put in my credit card for it. I’ve thought about it a lot, but never quite got passionate enough about the possibilities to really go for it.
I think it started when I uploaded this year’s Christmas photos for the family to view and download. Flickr is convenient because I can store large photos, set specific viewing and downloading permissions, and my parents don’t have to become members to download their pictures. And I took a buttload of pictures this year! But when I went to upload them, I saw last year’s lonely 15 or so shots sitting there looking kind of forlorn? Unwanted? I felt bad I hadn’t been back all year, but I had a blast organizing (oh, ho how I love to organize!) the top 100 or so of the thousand pictures I took the week of Christmas. In the process, I started to get familiar with Flickr’s setup creating sets, collections, maps, then joining groups, posting to them, making contacts with others, and glory be – comments! Favorites! View counters! I think that’s what piqued my interest initially, the feedback. I could see how many people looked at a particular photo, who added it to their ‘favorites’ collection and what they said in their comments. Not that I had any favorites or comments, but I saw the possibilities on others’ works of art and it gave me something to aspire to.
But ultimately, what stoked my spark of interest into a roaring, uncontrollable inferno was the work of the other photographers. Once I figured out how the ‘Groups’ thing works, I was able to surf around, peeking at photos of any particular subject matter I fancied. And I tell you, these people are nothing if not diverse in their interests and talents! Sure, many are amateurs, but only in the literal sense that they don’t make their living from photography. Some are amateurs in every other sense as well, but it’s okay. Flickr is a photo community, not a professional photo community. Then there are the other ones – the ones who took my breath away with their imagination, technique and eccentricity. The ones whose body of work is consistently sharp, colorful, wild and emotional, and yet, most of them still learning, still humble, still asking for advice. It made me feel like I could do this, too. I’m usually so intimidated by that kind of talent, but for once I just wanted to jump right in and start playing. I could actually feel my brain expanding as ideas germinated, took root and bloomed into potential projects with an urgency I barely recognized. I haven’t felt this creative, this energized, this inspired in a long, long, long time. And it shows I may not be consistent, and I may not be technically gifted, but I am certainly prolific. The number of photos on my site has gone from the original 15 to around 350 in under a week. Granted, many of them are uploads of photos from earlier this year, but many of them are new, and I’m constantly either shooting or thinking about what I’ll shoot next. This is totally new for me. Although I’ve always loved photography, this is the first time I’ve felt any purpose in putting my photos out there for people to actually look at, and it’s taken my hobby to a new, very satisfying level.
I don’t know if it will last. My interest could peter out in fits and starts like my relationship with Paul, or it could fade over time like my 7-year relationship with Open Diary (ha! My longest relationship to date, in case you were wondering!), but I hope it will be neither. I love the way this experience has rejuvenated my sad, sleepy little brain cells and I want to keep improving until what I see in the finished product is as good or better than how I saw it in my mind’s eye.
In the meantime, if you want to see what I’ve been doing, feel free to browse over to flickr.com/photos/axisgrid (you don’t have to be a member to look) and check out the fruit of my new passion. It may not inspire you the way it has me, but you never know
Because I post here, I don’t really have anything to post here. I might try someday anyway. . I don’t accept notes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t comment.