I have an addiction. I am a Flickr addict. It is the first site I hit each day. And I hit it a lot each day. To feed this habit I have to post each day. Each day to my two accounts. My DSLR account and my iPhone one. A few years back, I was a Flickr lurker. Posting irregularly. Then the Flickr thing just clicked for me. The social aspect of it. The fact that each day I could see photos from all over the world from people who, in turn, would come and see what was coming out of my little corner of the world. How wonderful that is. The opportunity to share, to support and to learn is priceless. I have learnt so much from Flickr. Taken steps on to photographic paths that I feel I would never have gone on except for Flickr; except for the support of Flickr contacts. Posting an image on Flickr and seeing the comments come on stream is a little buzz. A little joy each day. A fix.
But Flickr needs to be fed. Fed with photos. Nourished on new images. Not only new images, but evolving ones. Each day. And it is not easy. This week, I dried up. Photographic reserves shrivelled up. I had nothing new to show. I had to raid the reserves. And that is not what I want to do. I want new images to show. I want to experiment and learn.
So, this morning I headed out. Down town. Cork city. A cold morning. Camera swinging in front of me, alert to compositions. iPhone in my pocket. Excited, I was. Put me in a big city and I am in my element, but in my hometown is not a big city and I am not anonymous. I become so conscious of people noticing what I am doing. I see their puzzled, suspicious looks. “What is he taking photographs of?” “Why?” “He’s taking a photograph of a wall.” “Was he photographing me?” It is not that easy. But I persevere. My Flickr condition demands it.
Eventually, I got some shots. Some to be deleted once they hit the computer screen and some to be worked on. Either way, I got out. I got some new photographs. And I can relax for a few days. I have my feed for Flickr.
Here are a few from this morning.
This is not easy.