Although so far the stories of Flickr’s death have been greatly exaggerated, there’s no denying the photo-hosting leviathan is in a difficult situation. At best, it will be taken over by a company content to keep things ticking over and just claim the subscription fees, but I’m guessing that it will change.
I’ve been using Flickr as my online storage solution and a place for sharing and discussion since I became a photographer. Although it’s possible the present situation will blow over and nothing will happen, I need to be prepared for the worst. As well as re-backing up all my images locally to satisfy my OCD, I want to be prepared to move to a new host and new platform. You know, just in case…
Like someone getting back into the dating scene after 40 years of marriage, I’m a little bit rusty when it comes to knowing the latest ins and outs of the photo-sharing world. I’ll confess I had a brief dalliance with 500px a few years ago — nothing serious and we both regret it, though I hear she’s changed a lot since then — but otherwise I’ve been nothing but loyal to Flickr.
Here’s a few of the “must haves” when it comes to finding my new BFF.
1. Must be a photography site: sounds obvious, but I want something dedicated to photography first and foremost. So not Facebook.
2. Plenty of storage: 2TB of free storage was perfect, perhaps even more than I needed but I don’t want to be worrying about capacity.
3. Community: I left 500px when it was just a liking/faving circle-jerk. I hear it now has some form of community? Regardless, one of the biggest perks of Flickr is the ability to join groups and have meaningful discussion. I want somewhere I can interact with others and not just a dump-and-run site.
4. Reasonably priced.
5. GSOH.
6. Inspiring: It must have an easy way to look for examples of great work. “Explore” is hopeless, full of random garbage most days. Other sites prioritize the size of the photographer’s network than the quality of their work. I want to be able to easily see top quality work so I can learn from it.
7. No prejudice against red-heads.
That’s what I need in a nutshell! I like to think of myself as a fairly open-minded photographer, so I’m happy to consider anything — even 500px. I’m sure we can agree to forget the rashness of youth.
I hear that these days a profile photo is essential so here’s me on a good day:
Here’s hoping one of my photographer friends out there can hook me up!
About the author: David Candlish is a photographer from the UK and currently living in Singapore. You can connect with him through his website, Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr. This article was also published here.
Image credits: Header illustration based on photo by Jhong Dizon
from PetaPixel http://petapixel.com/2016/04/01/photographer-36-wltm-new-long-term-partner/
No comments:
Post a Comment