For those of you that read my blog on a regular basis (hi Mum), you might have noticed my deep addiction to Flickr. I first saw Flickr when the meme started earlier in 2004. Back then the flash application and chat tool looked interesting but not compelling.
What I didn’t realise until recently was just how much of a great web service this is. Traditionally, with photos, you’d stick them in an album, and once in a while pull it off a dusty shelf and inflict them on friends or relatives after a few glasses of you favourite beverage. When digital photos came along, the process became even more arduous, because you’d store them on CD or DVD and lose them at the bottom of some draw. What Flickr allows you to do is share them not only with friends and family, but with thousands of others that just might enjoy the subject of your photo as well. Putting all those bits into use, where normally they’d just corrode over a millennium.
Whack in a batch of tags on your photo collection, and you can then start surfing other people’s collections that relate directly, or indirectly, to yours. As an example, I’ve an affection for Disney World, because this is where my wife and I started our honeymoon. Now I get to share the experience with a bunch of other Disney Geeks, and I can live vicariously through others that are visiting as we speak.
In just over a week I’ve uploaded about 500MB of photos that I’ve taken over the last few years, and also reawakened my desire to get out and take more photos. All in all a good little activity when I’ve found the time over the holiday break.
