I first joined Flickr back in 2011 when I was looking for somewhere to share some pictures I had recently taken on a safari in Botswana. It was very simple then as I was just getting to grips with my first DSLR and wildlife photography was looming as a hobby. I posted a few up and thought no more of it.
A couple of years passed and as the hobby took a hold, someone said to me "what do you do with all of your pictures?" to which the reply was "nothing". So the Flickr suggestion was made and I readily embraced it, merrily tagging images, posting them in various groups, following like-minded people and building up a web of followers. To begin with I was happy to be involved: I was seeing a lot of inspirational images from others and drawing some nice comments from my followers.
It wasn't long though before I started to struggle with the whole concept. I was spending more and more time on Flickr when I should have been taking and processing my own images. Increasingly I felt under pressure.
There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, I am not qualified to comment on the quality of an image. I might like a particular picture, but the whole photography game is subjective, so equally I may not. I dislike certain styles for instance: HDR is top of the list, but an image cropped too tightly or within a huge frame also figure. And that is irrespective of how good the subject or quality of the image is. Then we get into the whole 'he doesn't comment on mine so I'm not going to comment on his' scenario. Don't even get me started on the copy and paste comment merchants and how insincere that is. Also, I can't see the point of 'nice shot Jim' nor the comments that actually say nothing.
So where does this leave me? It's true to say I have made some very good friends through my involvement in Flickr and for that I am grateful. I shall continue to post pictures to Flickr, but my focus now will be centred on our website (www.2togs.co.uk). I will continue to look at the new posts everyday, but my comments will be rare. If I am following someone, it's because I like their work. If only Flickr had a 'Like' button, the world would be a better place.
This will be the last post on this blog page as I transfer it to our website at www.2togs.co.uk/news.html.
