Ever since I decided to showcase some of my favorite vacation photos online, I've been in love with Flickr. Mildly obsessed is perhaps a better description. Yes, I know I'm five years late. It's cool. I just never really had a good reason to use Flickr until I had a kickass photo collection that I wanted to share with the world. And now I do. But I like Flickr even more because it's a great place to browse the collections of photograhers who are much more talented than me. And there are many. I'm not a complete novice when it comes to taking pics, but I've still got a lot to learn, and you can learn a lot from metadata.
Anyway, yesterday I came across a photo with a lot of comments. Kind of brutal comments. Like “delete this, too processed”, “sorry, delete5”, “hate the framing, delete7”, and so on. It wasn't a bad picture at all. When did Flickr users get so critical? Turns out the photographer was part of a submission group called “Delete Me Uncensored” (occasionally NSFW) in which members savagely rate one another's photos via tags. It's extremely simple: ten “delete” tags and you're toast, but ten “save” tags and your photo goes in the Folio, or hall of fame. Whichever tag climbs to 10 first wins.
Like I said, I'm no ace photographer, but I've definitely taken a handful of what I believe are winners, and I love a good challenge. So I joined Flickr's “Delete Me Uncensored” group and submitted one of my favorite photos from Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I mean come on, who wouldn't like this picture? It's amazing (if I do say so myself, and I do).
I tried not to pay too much attention to the voting process throughout the day, but I couldn't help myself, especially once the “deletes” started coming in. Somebody said the walls were was boring. Someone else hated the framing. Another suggested that I might have submitted my photo more effectively as a “diptych”. I had to look that word up, and even then I had no idea what she was talking about. But there were a bunch of “saves” too, plus constructive comments. By 11 p.m., my photo's fate had not yet been decided. It was kind of exciting.
This morning, I reigned victorious! But only by one vote. ONE VOTE! My amazing, amazing photo almost got the shaft? Wow. It was a little humbling to learn that not everybody thinks I'm quite as talented as I do. Hey, we all need an honest critique now and again. But still. My very first Flickr challenge, and I won! Yay!
I feel a little silly about all of this. I know that my Flickr winnings won't make me richer or thinner or more sympathetic toward people who think Wrangler jeans are cool again. I know this. But I'm still proud of myself. I feel vindicated somehow. I took a good picture, dammit, and nobody can take that away from me. And I'll probably submit another photo today, because I'm the sort of person who can't quit while she's ahead.
May 3, 2007