The Line Has Been Drawn

I remember back when I first opened my Flickr account, I posted a few photos and after a few weeks noticed they were only viewed a handful of times. By searching around and looking at other photographer's pics, I was shocked to see that some of them were viewed thousands of times. My goal immediately became trying to get a photo to be viewed 100 times, and then it was 200, and now when I post a new photo I sometimes have over 100 in a day. Alot has to do with the number of people that now follow my work on Flickr, but it also has to do with a number of other reasons...such as how exposed the image is and how often it is shared. ​I would like to think that the number of views an image gets reflects how great of a photo it really is, but...that isnt the case. I have some images that Ive posted that I thought would blow up, being viewed over a hundred times by the end of the day, and it barely gets viewed at all. Then I have images like the one above, a simple shot of a basketball that I took on an indoor court while playing around with shallow depths of field, which is now over 2000 views and climbing daily still. 

I enjoy seeing the reaction an image gets on Flickr, reading the comments and seeing how many people like it, but it can be extremely frustrating at times when an image doesn't get the response you expect it to. ​Its also a great tool with the many different groups you can submit your images to, where other photographers can see your images that dont necessarily follow your work, and comment on them giving you there criticism.

There's really nothing special about the image above, but it managed to grab the attention of over 2000 people now and I really cant tell you why. The only reason I can give is that the image has been shared on the internet via different websites, most of them I'm unaware of, but I have done a google search and found it in different online photo collections in the past. Whether or not I truly understand why this particular image blew up in the number of views, over others that I thought were better, when it is shared by others and put in different online photo collections...it gets my name out there. Because of Flickr...over 2000 people now have seen a photo that I took, and if they wanted to see more, they are simply one click away from seeing the rest of my Flickr photostream, which I'm sure has happened many times in the past. This is the reason I still post photos in Flickr, its a great tool, and I highly recommend it be a starting spot for anyone just getting into photography and looking to not only get your work seen by others, but a great way to have your work critiqued...whether good or bad. ​Another reason I still post my photos on Flickr is because of their relationship with Getty Images, which I explain a little more in the previous blog. So, whether new to photography, or looking to start taking it a little more serious, I recommend opening a Flickr account.