Tag Archives: photo streams

I just read a blog entry where someone was criticised for uploading “holiday snaps” to their Flickr account. When did Flickr morph from being a photo sharing service and community into being a photography competition?

While I am a lot more selective about what I upload now, since being criticised myself for “uploading everything I take a picture of” and also since I became more conscious about not cluttering my stream with near-duplicates and really bad shots, I still upload everything I like. Why? Because my Flickr account is my photo archive, it is where I send friends and family to see via my photos what my family and I have been up to. It is not a “portfolio”, it is not for me a place to show off and I have no delusions any of it will sell.

There are some brilliant photographers on Flickr, looking through the explorer could lead you into thinking only the best is allowed but that is clearly not the case. It is a Photo Sharing site, not a showcase!

I guess this has wound me up for the usual reason of people imposing
their opinions on others. They use the service one way and feel
everyone should agree with them. Until Flickr announce a rule that there will be some sort of quality control police, people should be allowed to post whatever they like, whether that is what they consider their best work or if it is large portions of happy gurgling baby, sand castles or cute cat shots.

Perhaps people who feel only the best should show up on Flickr need to remember for most of us photography is a fun hobby, not life or death.

Technorati Tags: flickr, photography