Sandcurves

Quick one.  This post can also be called "Why I am falling in love with Flickr". 

I've had an interest in photography since childhood.  My family is very artistic - my brother and sister both draw, paint, photograph and so on really well.  We grew up in a very remote place in northern Kenya and a lot of the time while I was out running around the bushes, they were at home reading, painting and drawing. 

So, I'm not sure that I ever caught the bug - or rather, I'm not sure that I caught the family talent.  I did do some courses and stuff, even a correspondence course at one time years ago and some stuff at school.  But I didn't take it to seriously and also, when I started guiding, I realized every tour guide wants to have a secondary income from photography.  I new my chances were slim, and, with the relative cost of getting going in photography, I just never got into it. 

But eventually I did get a digital SLR, in part just to have some fodder for blogs and in part to document my kids growing up.  And, of course, that is really what I use them for most of the time. 

But, as you have seen on this blog, I do also like to play with the thing, and some of what comes out is interesting.  And that is fun. 

I started some time ago posting to Flickr, and didn't really have a plan for what I was doing there.  I just stuck something up there on the odd occasion. 

But having done a little tour recently, I decided the easiest way to share the pics with the guests was to stick it up on Flickr.  So I did.  Then decided to start sticking something up each day - I have so many pictures, and what use are they deep in my file system. 

I decided to post to Twitter whenever I put something up, which has worked out nicely, I get a good few views with each picture.  But what I am finding the most interesting, the most rewarding, is that your connection to strangers has a more real value to it than it does on something like Twitter.  People enjoy looking at pictures and it is fun to post a picture to groups with people that are taking similar pics and it becomes rather easy to find people who share similar interests like that.  I guess you kind of see what they are looking at, at least in this limited way. 

So, I guess the real currency on Flickr is the fav - comments can be self serving and I'm starting to feel like all these groups where you have to copy some stupid flashing thing is a bit, well, stupid.  And my pic with the most favs so far, and a really large number of views relative to the norm for me, is this one of a sunset. 

I was rather surprised at the response to the picture.  I did blur it a little with gaussian blur - so it isn't exactly how I saw it, but I'm still amazed at how much people like the picture.  We had been watching lions in Ongava with one of the Ongava guides driving us - and not guiding, I was snapping with my camera.  After the lions, as the sun was going down the guide wanted to rush to a good clearing where we could be away from the lions and have the traditional sundowner drink in the bush. 

While the guide drove through an area of thick bush, I just snapped at the sun.  The car was kicking up this very soft dust, and with a bit of wind behind our backs, the dust was shooting away from us.  Each time the dust would kick up, I snapped at the sun, just playing and seeing what the dust would do.  Mostly I missed, but did get this one great shot. 

And I think that sums up how I feel about the whole Flickr thing - or what it is turning into for me - snap away without trying to be the pro, just take stuff you can talk about, stuff that relates to your life, to your interests, and stick it up there and have a chat.

Any thoughts - do you have a nice flickr stream?

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