Today I am walking a tangent.
Today will be different.
You may like today.
You may hate today.
This is a concept entry all about Flickr.
By now you should have a basic understanding what Flickr is — a photo repository. However, Flickr has become more than that, it has also become a social network.
ITP Flickr Pic #1
From my Pentax Optio s5i
Wie Sagt Man Flickr Auf Deutsch?
The concept for today’s blog came to me when I realized just how many times I was looking at people’s pictures and had no clue in what language their titles, descriptions, or tags were written. Photos are universal. You see a picture of a cow, you know it’s cow. [author’s note: Stacy and Phil those would be my cows] There are times I’d like to understand what the title or description say but usually I don’t find it necessary.
ITP Flickr Pic #2
From my Nikon D50
What If?
Not surprisingly a lot of people post pictures on Flickr from weddings. One day I thought to myself “What would I think if I started looking at wedding pictures from someone that I once dated? Would that weird me out?” I’ve not figured out the answer to that question yet.
Thinking About Buying A New Lens?
Once you dive into the Digital SLR world you realize that you’ve just opened a Pandora’s Box for spending money. You see, kit lenses are usually middle-of-the-road performers and in order to take photos which look like the ones that convinced you to buy a Digital SLR you need to buy better lenses.
What I’ve started to do when I think about buying a new lens is search for photos on Flickr which were taken using the lens in question. It also helps when the same camera is in use, but even if it is not you can get a good indication on the capabilities of a lens. Oh, the skill of the photographer also has something to do with a photo’s quality as well. As my dad always used to say “Sometimes it’s not the arrow, it’s the indian.”
ITP Flickr Pic #3
From my Samsung BlackJack
This is not a great shot, I am still trying to learn abilities of the BlackJack’s cameraphone.
What I Would Change?
I think that Flickr is great, however there are some improvements I would make if I was the King of Flickr.
- Nag to tag – People are still uploading pictures without adding descriptive tags. One of the most powerful features of Flickr is the ability to add multiple tags to photos for easy searching and grouping. Why people don’t use tags better still confuses me.
- Improved contacting – I don’t think the founders of Flickr ever thought that their site would be so popular. Contacts are people whose photostreams you look at often. Once you add a lot of people to your contact list it’s unwieldy to look at their photos. For example you only have two options about contacts “view one photo from each contact” or “view five photos from each contact.” I’d like to see better filtering options.
- Rudimentary editing – It’s true that Flickr allows you to rotate an image, but it would also be nice if it allowed you to crop, or resize your online images as well.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – late because sleeping was so fantastic this morning
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Sonic Youth — “Kool Thing”
Website Of The Day – Since today is all about Flickr, why not pick a website named Complete Digital Photography.
Training Target – ???
Exercise (b)Log – none, I had a fun dinner with two beers at Taco Mac with my friend Stacy instead.
January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [FAILED]
5) Read two books.
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Ha only Wedding pictures? Rookie. I actually went to an X-G-friends wedding once! You can’t forget that they were probably a friend before they became a lover…. I know not all folks can stomach that, but if you loved them enough to be with them, you should be able to wish them well and still want them as a friend. No, it doesn’t always work that way but shouldn’t it?
And you already have the beers listed – good man! Where’s the photo of your new really really cool glass?
By the way, that gap on that list between June and January is pretty frightening. Don’t let that happen again.
To Gentri: No.
😉
I never got around to shooting a picture of the glass last night. That will happen this weekend when I (finally) complete my first attempt at building a shadow box.
The gap is frightening, I agree. Also I was shocked to see a couple of discrepancies between my list and Taco Mac’s. I have no idea how that happened.
Gentri – I think it all depends on if you are the dumper or the dumpee………
But I do agree with you, once it is the past and the memories are faded, I like to think I could be friends with the ex’s. Luckily for me, most of them don’t live in Atlanta, so I don’t have to worry about it.
As far as ex-girlfriends go, when they decide to stop fucking me, I feel that they can go fuck themselves. It should come as not surprise that I am really only friends with one of my ex’s.
At what level do you get the glass?
Barb: I agree. I realize “Reality” and “Ideally” don’t always meet up! I was just sayin’……
Stacy: Your not even trying! (see how much I can devine from a one word answer!
Paulie: Understood, but again, you were with them for a reason and in theory liked them as a person, yes? The 180 isn’t logical I understand…………
Gentri: The glass is something completely separate. Thursdays at Taco Mac, you buy the drink-of-the-month and you get to keep the glass. But as our sweet little waitress said last night, you gotta come early on Thursdays (shoot! what was her name, Paulie? I thought I would have remembered that).
And, hell no, of course I’m not trying! Have you seen some of the folks I actually dated? Shiiiiit. You wouldn’t try either! 😉
Okay, all kidding aside, I agree with Barb up there (:waves to Barb up there). There are a lot of factors to determine this, the main one being if either person was just plain ugly to the other at the time. Definitely a case-by-case basis, but either way, it can never be immediately. Folks gotta have that time to heal and move on (even if you’re the dumper!).
Her name was Sunnie, and she was a fantastic waitress. See I told you that I learned something from “Beauty and the Geek” even if I didn’t think it was a great show.
For me there comes a point and time (usually the first time we have sex) that takes the relationship to a different level. Once that threshold has passed the ability to be cordial post-breakup usually goes away. Time heals wounds. The next relationship also heals wounds.
At which What Taco Mac were you eating? I find my experience at TM runs the gamut. In general, expect slow service form them, especially in Decatur.
-FP
(memo to self… proofread TWICE)
Is that a memo to me, or to you?
We were at the Taco Mac near Perimeter Mall. I was working late enough to warrant killing time before diving into traffic and Stacy works north of Perimeter Mall so it was sort of on her way home.
Dude, Your Camera Does Not Matter, and neither does your lens, really once it meets minimum standards (which your kit lens does). The only time you need a really fast lens is if you’re doing something stupid, like trying to shoot concerts using only available light.
That said, of course I never roll out without my 28-70mm f/2.8 AF-S ED (alphabet soup ad infinitum). It’s focuses so fast I can shoot fashion shows with it (which I never do) or sports (which I also never do). However, wide aperatures are important to the technique I use to communicate through photographs, so I spent the bucks. And, well, the fast focus is pretty sweet.
Not to derail the comment thread, but I agree that the contact-watching at flickr can get unwieldy, esp if you forget to check for a week or three. I started using google reader to follow favorite photostreams – it’s slightly wieldier 🙂 Of course, you miss out on the comments though. And I haven’t figured out how to make it see the photo groups I’m in. Which is another great thing about flickr, the groups 🙂