Last week I caught up with our own Summer Huggins to ask her a few questions about how she uses Flickr in anticipation of the release of a podcast she’d be featured on about the subject.
But as I prepared my interview questions, I didn’t know what to ask. What's not to understand about Flickr? You post your pictures, send the link to mom and dad, and cross your fingers that their e-mail client allows them to click on the link.
Then I talked to Summer (and read this) and realized that Flickr can be so much more.
In addition to using Flickr to make photo sharing with mom and dad a cinch, Summer also uses it to connect with people. Sure, one of her connections on Flickr is her husband Cole and at least three fellow Hammock employees. But Flickr also helps Summer connect with people she’d have no business knowing. Like “twk333” in Seoul, Korea, who met Summer while drooling over one of her beautifully styled “What’s for Dinner” photos. Or San Francisco-based “mybluemuse,” who shares Summer’s affinity for having any excuse to snap a photo of her pets.
Summer stays in touch with her Flickr friends by commenting on their photos and reading the comments and notes they post on hers.
“I know their dogs’ names, the streets they take to work, the weather in their hometown on any given day,” Summer says. “It’s more than just taking pictures and posting them to a Web site. With Flickr, you’re really sharing a piece of your life with each photograph.”
But Flickr’s not all for fun and games, as Summer has learned. The photo-sharing site has also helped hone her photography skills. “Sometimes folks will offer their thoughts on what a different crop would have looked like or what they think changing the image to black and white might do for the photo,” she says. “That’s great to get that kind of feedback, but if someone just comes along with a comment like, ‘Hey, that’s my favorite kind of cupcake, too,’ then that’s good enough for me.”
Listen to this podcast at photosharepodcast.com to hear the rest of Summer’s (and Cole’s, too) take on Flickr.