LONG STORY SHORT | Flickr « Urban Molecule

LONG STORY SHORT | Flickr

30Jun08

The New Photography
by Josh Livingston

[Above: "One World, One Flickr" from ie-fotografie]

Photo sharing has come a long way since the days of downloading Hotmail attachments of your cousin Ashleigh’s kindergarten graduation – more likely, Terri Hatcher in a swimsuit – at 28.8Kbps; there are more options for posting, managing and disseminating images online than ever. Personally, I encourage posting flattering self-portraits on Facebook so your high school friends can see how much better you look now.

One of the dominate photo portals is Flickr, an online community of millions boasting an unfathomable number of user-generated images (more than 2 billion, actually) since its 2004 inception. The site has built a rapid base of photo-lovers who store, organize and tag their own images; add notes and comments to others’; participate in discussion groups; link pics to their blog and even geotag them to the globe. For all that, these are probably the same people who have let their snapshots languish in forgotten shoe boxes under their beds for years.

Full disclosure: I’m a fairly recent convert to – and huge fan of – the Flickr-verse. Allowing image-makers with a vast range of talent, equipment and intention the same platform warms my democratic heart. I love also the pull of commonality when everyone’s lens points in the same direction – a search for “New Year’s Eve 2008” turns up 21,455 results – versus the push of the infinite diversity of its members’ viewpoints. Crochet sushi? 146 results. Ninja baby? 1,125 results. Antique gum? 114 results.

And as this photo-juggernaut grows in users and content, one starts to wonder: what exactly is the “flickr effect?” Let’s discuss:

The emergence of the flickr aesthetic. The photos that garner the most positive feedback share visual traits that enhance their apparent “look at me!” click-worthiness. They are digitally manipulated to be high contrast, color-saturated and cropped to look appealing when displayed in thumbnail-size. While these aren’t horrifying qualities in a photo, the Flickr look is a departure from the raw naturalism of the 35mm analog paradigm favored by traditional galleries, art schools and museums.

Playahs gaming the system to boost their prominence. This power user examines the ins and outs of Flickr popularity, and details how to maximize one’s interestingness. Interestingness is Flickr-speak for an algorithmically-derived status conferred on the most popular images of a day.

Handing over a forum to an army of citizen paparazzi. This is not about celebrity stalking, but city stalking; over a million pictures are tagged with “Paris, France,” only about 4,500 are tagged with “Paris Hilton.” Living in New York City, where tourists vastly outnumber locals in some places, I’ve noticed the swelling ranks of would-be Alfred Eisenstaedts on the streets with Elphs and EOS Rebels in hand. Now, their vacation photos are ours to treasure.

Traffic flows to tits and ass erotic content. We all know sex sells. But that erotic imagery is common, despite the countless other sites that cater to smut, probably says a lot about human nature. Or maybe just the enduring appeal of nude human form. However, users can sidestep the seamy side of Flickr via the safe search content filters, blocking unwanted nudity and explicit images.

However you look at it, ultimately the $64,000 question boils down to this: will Flickr influence the field of photography beyond the web? Strange to think it might, but harder to imagine it won’t.

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