I think one of the best things I’ve done this year was upgrading my Flickr account to Pro status. Ever since that day back in January, I’ve been taking a lot more photos (I guess I did that by default when I went on my trip to UK/Europe) and gradually, I’ve been taking better photos. I am really getting more and more interested in learning how to take better photos (not just your regular point-and-shoot). I’m learning about composing the image, lighting, exposures, etc.

Absolut Vodka bottle.

Prior to upgrading to Pro, I didn’t visit Flickr as much because I just used it primarily as a photo-sharing site that I could tell my friends about. But now, I’ve joined several groups and I’m actively contributing to one. I also appreciated the unlimited uploads. I didn’t have as many photos to upload but I did hit that monthly limit of 100MB once and then I had to wait until the next month to upload more. I didn’t think the option to have more sets would be a big bonus but I look at the number of sets that I have right now (26) and I’m glad I am not limited to just 3.

Corners meet on a wooden fence.

Reflections.

Word around town (and when I say town, I mean the Interweb) has Flickr announcing video-sharing. I don’t know what to think about this move. I mean, on one hand, Flickr is an incredible photo-sharing site and I’m sure they can do great things with a video-sharing site. On the other hand, when I look at YouTube, it’s just a big mess of videos where anyone can upload anything at anytime. There’s no ownership of videos and more often than not, when someone uploads a video they do not own the rights to, it gets taken down later due to copyright issues. I think if Flickr can introduce a video-sharing site that is in everyway like their photo-sharing site (only owners of the videos are allowed to upload the video, a much better community, groups, comments that are under control, interestingness, etc.), then I think it will be a big success. Who knows, it might even inspire me to upload a video or two.

But back to the photos, I didn’t think the Pro account would have such a profound effect on me. It’s allowed me to come up with lots of ideas for photos and I also find myself actively browsing through groups and photos, trying to pick up ideas from others and appreciating others’ photos. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Flickr, I highly recommend it (and look me up). Upgrading to a Pro account is about $25/year but if you’re any bit of a photo enthusiast, I would also recommend you look into it. If you have an SLR and you don’t currently put your photos on the net, what’s another $25/year after you’ve spent $600+ on a camera?