Well what an interesting day I have had working on my photographs and trying to increase the number of hits I have been getting for my photographs on Flickr. To an extent I have achieve this. As I write this I have had over 119 hits - an all time record. So who have I managed to increase the number of hits? Well the only way to do this would appear to be to spend a lot of time in the Flickr domain, publishing your photographs to numerous groups, commenting on other photographs by other people and slowly but surely you get responses. Of course it also helps to have a strong photograph or two but really that is not the best way. There would appear to be no substitute for networking. Get your work noticed and then people will respond - just as in real life.
So what do I think about Flickr now? Well I am not too sure as to its long term viability for myself. Yes it does get your work out there and yes probably a lot more people will see it but there is a snag. You don't develop as a photographer. All you do is get your work buried in a huge pile of photographs which, if I had taken them, would never have seen the light of day let alone published for all the world to see. Don't get me wrong there are some unbelievable photographs on Flickr - photographs I can only wish to be able to take. But these are the exception and so are very difficult to find unless you know where to look - which is a skill I am slowly acquiring.
I suppose, in the end, it is what do you want to get out of Flickr - if it is an education in photography then you will be disappointed. If you want to have a brief glimpse at some amazing photographs then Flickr does deliver - but you have to work at it. If, however, you want to get some gratification for your work from total strangers from all over the world and you enjoy social networking then Flickr really delivers. I'm just not sure if this is what I want.
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