Flickr at 20

Flickr is Awesome: 20 Years Old

Flickr is 20 years old this year. I’ve belonged since February 2009, for 15 of those 20 years.

To celebrate, Flickr offers some fun activities; see the info on the blog: Birthday Festivities Guide.

One of those activities was a Birthday Photo Contest. Join the group and upload an image with the trademark Pink and Blue colors of Flickr. The winners are here.

I really wanted to participate, but I didn’t find a Pink and Blue item to photograph until February 29, and then didn’t get it uploaded. That’s it at the top– not close to the colors, but pink and blue: pink rose and peony blossoms inside a blue, heart-shaped pottery bowl. I’m going to upload it today: my Happy Birthday, Flickr image.

I Love Flickr: Why

As a teacher, I’ve shared photos in groups for education and even shared administration of one with my friend Denis Krebs called TFotoFri, for teachers to share a fun, interesting, or inspiring photo of their days each Friday, personal or professional. We had 23 members who posted each Friday, or thereabouts. It was so fun to connect that way, sharing a bit of ourselves and our lives.

I love Flickr because it’s easy to use and share photos and art. Albums provide a way to share a portfolio of a concept. For instance, I created one for my Procreate Silk Paintings, which I reviewed today and discovered it has some I’d like to share in a blog post to encourage others to try the process. Here’s two of the pieces: one a view of Moses Mountain and one a silk painting of the photo of Moses Mountain.

The album of Silk Paintings in the browser perfectly shows the image, and I can insert the album into my post.

Or any of my images– just by pasting the URL generated by Flickr:

Although I have an IG account, I prefer Flickr and recommend it to everyone, especially my artist friends now that I am retired. As noted, I can embed albums and images into the blog, join groups, and create albums/collections to showcase the photos.

Not only that, but I often search for my photos on Flickr rather than my computer because I’ve added the images to groups and albums with tags and descriptions, and all of that is searchable, whereas on my computer– I’ve got to know the name of the file. Just as important, I can link to my blog and other resources in the description so my viewers can hop over to relevant information about the image.

Just as importantly, I can follow my friends and others to receive notifications via Flickr of their uploads. And I follow organizations who provide public domain images for reference in my art work, such as the BioDiversity Heritage Library.

All of these make Flickr the best photo/art organizer and portfolio ever. I’m so glad to be a Pro member.

Happy Birthday and Thank You, Flickr