My Flickr experience

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23741723@N03/sets/72157603907164450/

I really enjoyed the Flickr project. Our topic, the smoking ban, was a great topic to choose. However, we did not take into consideration two things. Our class is at 9:30 in the morning. Not as many people smoke that early in the morning. The second thing that we did not take into consideration was that it was so cold out and there was snow on the ground. A lot of people don’t want to wait outside in the cold to smoke a cigarette. Thus, it was hard to find actual smokers smoking. Instead, we had to stage almost all of the pictures.

After walking around Wells Library, the IMU, Collins, Swain East, and other areas, we were only able to find one smoker. Surprisingly, when we asked him if we could take a picture of him, he guessed right away that we were doing a project on the smoking ban. Even though we staged the pictures, these pictures still show the same storyline, that Indiana University does not enforce the smoking ban. I always see smokers everywhere. Supposedly, people are not supposed to smoke within thirty feet of a building entrance. However, this is where most people still smoke. Many people smoke as soon as they exit a building or before they enter one. In addition, we took a picture of one of the many ash trays located on campus. This makes you wonder why there are so many ash trays on campus if the administration is so serious about banning smoking.

Even though we ran into complications finding smokers on campus, I still had a positive experience with Flickr. It was exciting taking different pictures on campus with the idea that they are going to be used to tell a story. I thought our finished product of our Flickr experience was good. People viewing our Flickr probably not even know that we staged our pictures. Thus, I would definitely use Flickr in the future. After reading Flickr Changes Lives, Launches Photog Careers by Jennifer Woodward Maderazo, I was able to relate completely with someone in the article. They went to art school and hated photography classes because they couldn’t understand the information and felt discouraged by their work from others. They then stopped with photography and picked it up again when they created a Flickr account. Through this account, they were able to learn photography techniques from other people’s Flickr accounts and regained their passion for photography. I can completely relate with this person because I love taking pictures but got discouraged from photography classes in high school. I didn’t enjoy the classes because it dealt with too much history, terminology, and content that wasn’t interesting to me. I didn’t like developing my pictures and felt rushed to complete the assignments on time. Thus, I stopped with my passion for photography. Now after reading this Flickr article, I want to start up with my photography hobby again. Instead of taking photography classes that don’t interest me, I can learn what I want to from other people’s pictures on Flickr.

In addition, I found it fascinating how people like Laretta Houston and Daniel Krieger were able to make a transformation of a person with a photography hobby to a professional photographer. When Daniel Krieger said “Being able to watch some regular Joe Schmo buy a camera, hop on Flickr, and develop into a talented photographer with a vision is something revolutionary in the art world. I would say. I don’t think there’s ever been anything like that,” it really made me fascinated with the entire idea of Flickr. There isn’t anything else like it. There are programs and websites that you can upload your photos onto, but not ones that you ca get advice and feedback of your photos from others. Flickr really gives people the opportunity to do whatever they want with photography. After reading this article, I am definitely going to pursue my photography hobby further and see what Flickr has to offer me.