subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 28 March 2020 27
Above:A recent
screengrabfrom
Flickrshowsthe
mostpopular
subjectsonthe
platformTHE FUTURE OF FLICKR
better informed about the use of
their data. Many now see it as an
asset they don’t want to give up for
free. Is it time for Flickr to reignite?
I put in a request to speak to CEO
of SmugMug Dan MacAskill, but as
you can appreciate, for someone
who has just overseen one of the
biggest data transfers since
Cambridge Analytica logged on to
Facebook, he is quite busy – he did
release this statement though:
‘Since day one our passion has been
empowering photographers to tell
the stories they want to tell, the way
they want to tell them, and our
investment in Flickr reaffirms this
commitment. Uniting the
SmugMug and Flickr brands will
make the whole photography
community stronger and better
connected. The enduring quality of
photography is so much more than
clicks and likes – photography has
the power to change the world.
Together, we can preserve
photography as the global language
of storytelling.’
The majority of Flickr users have
free accounts that run advertising
alongside photos. Flickr also offers
an ad-free Pro service for $49.99
(£38) a year for unlimited storage.
Hearing the encouraging murmurs
of a Flickr revolution and that
Yahoo logins had been dumped, I
manage to access my 2015 account.
I upload over 600 of my best photos
and sit back feeling smug. A week
later I’ve accumulated 26 followers.
Romany WG has 15.4k followers
and only 36 photos. Thomas Hawk
a whopping 52.4k followers and
163,375 photos – I don’t think I’ve
taken that many photos in my
21-year career, certainly not that
many good ones. Kirsty Mitchell
has 20.5k followers and 369 photos.The Volkswagen Ambulance Flickr
group asks if it can include one of
my images. I sit back feeling a mug.
There seems to be no pattern for
success on Flickr. I have no
understanding of what success
would be. What is the purpose of
the platform? What are its benefits?
How often should I upload? What
should I upload? Who should I
engage with? How should I use
tags? What groups should I join?
Should I care and just stick to
Instagram and Facebook? How
do I get noticed? Why do I want to
get noticed?Glory years
Miss Aniela got noticed. Her Flickr
account may no longer be active but
the fabled testimonials remain:
drshrinker (catching up) says: ‘The
word nonpareil zips to mind.
As does the hackneyed genius.