Some of us reading this site are millennials, Gen X, and older. So the chances are then that you’ve got a Flickr account. Every now and again, I go through mine and peruse the images that I’ve posted in the past. What it amounts to is a few things that are important for every photographer to realize. While you’re at it, it’s often fun to search for groups that align with your interests. It’s one of the ways that I find and interview lots of photographers these days. But if you still have a Flickr account, here’s why it’s so important to go back into it and check up on the platform.
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Tell-Tale Signs of Your Own Growth Via Flickr
By going to your Flickr account, which you probably haven’t used or cared about in a long time, you gauge tell-tale signs of your own growth as a photographer. You probably learned how to expose your photos better or even how to find a better composition within a scene. Sometimes, we learn how to compose by color or by strategically placing dark and light in certain areas. And at other times, we’ve changed directions completely with how we photograph.
Understanding how someone has grown can help them figure out a bunch of things as a photographer. It’s nice to ask yourself questions about this. For example, if I hadn’t dived harder into reviewing cameras, lenses, and lights, how would my photography have changed? Would my feelings have changed as well, and my work has evolved when I’m shooting for myself and clients rather than for an audience reading this site?
Personally, I believe that if I dove more into photojournalism, I would’ve stuck around in music, events, and portraits. Street photography would’ve also been an interest, and I wouldn’t have gotten into photographing landscapes and wildlife all that much. All of the work that I do fascinates people I know and those who read this website. Any regular camera reviewer would probably tell you the same thing because they’re so used to testing products how they’re supposed to be used.
A Rediscovery of Trendy Things
Depending on when you started your Flickr account, you’ll probably see how trends come back into play. Lots of folks probably remember the Terry Richardson phase and how everyone loved his photos of people getting a flash blasted right into their faces. Well, lots of photographers do exactly that these days. Sometimes it dies down, only to come back with a vengeance. And we can see how these trends come and go when exploring Flickr.
It might also mean that you try things again. I always really liked playing with ring flash. And sometimes it’s nice to break those things out and mess with them again, knowing what you know now about exposures and all.
Memories of How You Edited or Shot
When you look at images in your old Flickr account, you’re bound to get memories of how you used to shoot or how you edited your images. And when you compare them to how you are now, you can gauge growth. Growth is important to how you’ve developed as a photographer over time. That brings into question why you have to change. If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, it doesn’t become fun anymore, and it eventually loses its joy for you. When you change it up, you start to gain new insights into how you can creatively grow.
Think of it like putting a plant that has clearly outgrown its pot into a bigger one with new soil and fertilizer. Then, over time, you see how it begins to grow and become even healthier.