Tag: Flickr

Resolved: More Pictures, Less Whining

Post author By Orin Zebest
Post date Feb 13, 2012
No Comments on Resolved: More Pictures, Less Whining

I wrote kind of a long post. It was about how great Flickr used to be, and lots other internet nostalgia — Consumating, Upcoming, stuff that just isn’t like it used to be. It made me sound like an old fogey. Feel like an old fogey. And really, all I wanted to say was that Upload all to-be-uploaded Flickr photos was on my 2012 New Year’s resolutions. I also included a half-apology about posting a New Year’s resolution in February. All in all, fairly self-passive-aggressive.

So instead I wrote this. It’s about how I think it will be good to just have all my photo backlog uploaded safe, public, and forever. How I can use my DSLR again without such a burden of responsibility. It’s about getting my life a little more sorted. And not being such a nostalgia freak, even when the territory get pretty darn nostalgic. Short and sweet.

Tags Flickr, New Year's resolutions, resolutions

Glot

How Embarrassing

Since the beginning of May, I have been continuously two months behind on uploading pictures to Flickr.

It just happened. See, we were looking for apartments. Every day, we’d go and see more apartments and take pictures to show the soon-to-be-roomies what the places looked like. ‘Course, we’d end up applying anyways toward the end. But some of the pictures were good. And a lot of the time, there was no more time. So I built up a backlog of decent, mostly story-telling pictures that sat around until I could find a place… and then find a job… and then find time.

I have myself experienced on a number of occassions the Red Queen. “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” I’ve uploaded pictures aplenty—all from around two months back. I make rent every month, yet somehow I have to keep working. And there’s so much upkeep in breathing, every day, every hour, every etc.

I want to complete them. I wanna be done. I’d like to come home and fling a whole buncha stuff on the internet and I don’t want to care about it. I have an unimpressive obsession. I know this. But I’m still obsessed.

Don’t you want to know what I did yesterday, and not last May?

Tags Flickr, procrastination, Red Queen

Glot

All Over the Internet

I haven’t been paying attention. The place changes so fast.

I find it is a healthy and normal internet activity to Google oneself™. While some might characterize this activity as self-indulgent and call it “ego-surfing,” those 21st-century web-savvy digitally-enabled electronically-mobile young semi-professionals amongst us… we know better. We’ve got enough stuff up on The Internet that the FBI doesn’t even have to ask us where we were four nights ago—we’ll tell them. I’d suppose, what with all this stuff lying around right here on this website, that I am counted among the no-privacy generation.

So I should really know (since I’m in charge of it) what about me is going up on the web. That’s half the idea of this glot-thing: to manage digital identity—all my junk in one pile. I was amused yesterday when a friend stumbled on an article about how to dump your travel partner that featured one of my Flickr photos. They’re all Creative Commons licensed, which means anyone can use ’em so long as they say who took ’em. Then today, for whatever reason, I decided instead of googling my name I would google my flickr name.

An article about a check-cashing place moving into a neighborhood. A post about natural selection and environment. A thought piece about “The Creator Economy” and Web 2.0. A German guy writing about American fireman and beer (I think). Many, many other things. Occasionally I’ll get an email asking for my consent to use a photo, or (since that’s not actually necessary) just a notice that someone has decided to use it. People make things out of my photos. Bloggers find them daily. I am all over the internet.

I’m not unthankful for such attention, however inattentive. This is a definite ego-boost for my ego-surfing as you could’ve guessed. It’s just that I had no idea how much I contributed. I’m not a photographer; I take photos. A long time ago, I used to touch up every photo I’d upload. Made sure each one had the right framing and adjusted the light levels. Used to work carefully on ’em. Thing is, I learned to trust my camera-hand. Framing is easy enough with a program like Flock. I still take out red-eye and sometimes play around a bit more. But by and large, I choose laissez-faire snapshot photography over the careful and deliberate shot.

What I’m saying is that I like that The Internet likes me. I just always thought, way in the back of my head, that there’d be time for perfecting things. Digital identity means what you contribute, you contribute instantaneously, no filter. Living freely on the internet where all your friends and family and old girlfriends and possible stalkers can see you has it’s disadvantages. But it can be fun from time to time (when you damn well catch up).