Flickr Feelings

// July 21st, 2009 // Life, Literacy


Panther beach fireworks , originally uploaded by snakebite2.

While I was at the UKLA Conference I went to listen to a symposium led by Julia Davies about the photo sharing community Flickr. It was fascinating to listen to Julia, Sigrid and David Barton talk about the different ways that people engage with the website. The gaming and play aspect is something that I’d never considered before, which led me to think about my own engagement with Flickr and what it means to me.

When I look at Flickr I always get slightly envious of the photography skills on show and could never hope to equal some of the shots that appear on the site. Besides that I mainly visit the site as a visitor and have only uploaded about 10 photos to date. I tend to enter the site and search for photos that help me to relax and take me to a place where I want to be. Flickr offers me escapism from the real world. I have a huge thing for sunsets and blue skies, especially on beaches, and if I find a photo showing a combination of these it makes me feel happy and relaxed. I can just imagine myself sat on the beach in the photo above with a cool summer’s breeze, watching the fireworks and listening to the sea. Bliss.

7 Responses to “Flickr Feelings”

  1. DrJoolz says:
    July 22, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    Am thrilled that you enjoyed the symposium. This is so interesting that you use Flickr in this way and must be one of many milions of silent users. I have always been so excited by the possibilities of participatin that I have not really done what you are describing. I think it is great you do this. Although I also think you should not be intimidated by others’ photos – there will always be people who do things better andsome who do worse than you (my Mum says!). These should not influence you.

  2. Martin says:
    July 22, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    Thanks for looking at my blog Julia!

    Part of my problem is that I don’t take that many photos to start with! I’ve uploaded a few from my travels here but it highlights that I need to do more travelling and remember to take a camera.

    I’m still unsure of how I actually view Flickr. Facebook is where all my friends upload every single photo on their camera or mobile where as Flickr seems to me more a showcase of photography skills. I should probably dust of my camera and try to contribute more to the community!

  3. Sigrid says:
    October 3, 2009 at 7:50 pm

    Hi Martin
    finally I get around to read blogs again! Thanks for your comment on the symposium, it was enjoyable. I have updated my own blog and I have now posted some papers online, including two different ones about Flickr, in case you are interested.
    Greetings from Vienna!

  4. Sigrid says:
    October 3, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    sorry, I forgot to include the link! http://wordandimage.wordpress.com/about/

  5. Martin says:
    October 4, 2009 at 1:30 am

    Hi Sigrid! I will check our your paper from the symposium. Thanks for the comment. Are you going to UKLA 2010?

  6. Sigrid says:
    October 4, 2009 at 10:04 pm

    Yes, I very much hope so :-)

  7. Martin says:
    October 4, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    Great News!

    Also to let you know the SiG website is now set up at:

    http://www.learningtoday.org.uk

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