Our previous Flickr Friday theme was #CreativeCommons, and here are our favorites from your submissions.
It was a completely free theme were you were in charge of what you capture as long as you are cool with releasing it under a Creative Commons license. We saw a multitude of contributions, from landscapes to life events, from portraits to pets, from food to festivals, and from leaves to light trails. There are many more themes you can discover in the Flickr Friday group pool. Thank you for all your contributions to the ever growing pool of easy to use Creative Commons photos. Don’t forget to visit the discussion thread showcasing your favorites.
We know winter is getting closer on the Northern Hemisphere, so for our next theme we want you to remember that it’s always good to stay warm and #OnTheSunnySide. Either if you take the chance of waking up early to catch the first ray of light or just playing with the lights and shades that you find along your day. Share the brightest side of your shots with us. Our favorites of the week will be showcased right here on Flickr Blog next week.
On April 26th, 1986, one of the two worst nuclear disasters in human history (the other being the Fukushima Daiichi disaster) took place at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the then Soviet Union.
26 years later, the 30km exclusion zone surrounding the power plant is still one of the most radioactively contaminated areas in the world and will remain uninhabitable for the foreseeable future.
In May and October 2012, СмdяСояd visited the Chernobyl exclusion zone to take the eerie, but at the same time moving photographs you see above. When the authorities finally evacuated the area, people were told they could presumably return after just three days, which is why most residents left their personal belongings behind. Despite the decay, it almost feels like the city of Pripyat that nearly 50,000 people once called their home has been frozen in time.
Many other photos showing different locations of Pripyat, including a school, a hospital, the "Palace of Culture" and urban scenery can be found in СмdяСояd‘s set Chernobyl & Pripyat.
Isolated in the Arabian Sea, the four islands of Yemen’s Socotra contains natural scenery unlike any other place, literally. At least 700 species of plants and animals are exclusively found in this World Heritage Site (inscribed in 2004), and the abundance of biodiversity is spread across 1,466 square miles of dunes, caves, and mountains. The naturally manicured appearance of the dragon’s blood trees — appropriately named for their blood-like red sap — symbolize the striking uniqueness of this location.
Photos are at the heart of Flickr, and we heard many of you ask for an easy way to showcase your photos offline. Today we’re happy to announce Flickr Photo Books. A clean, stunning design with a beautiful professional finish that brings your stories to life. For the first time, your photos can go from Flickr to photo book in as easy as one click.
We’re particularly excited about the creation tools we designed to do the work for you: Flickr will analyze your photos and intelligently crop, position, and place them automatically.
Your photos. Your story.
Flickr’s free terabyte of space allows all of us to share and store our photos in full resolution. These pictures also deserve the best canvas possible when you take them offline. We searched high and low, and found the finest professional printing methods and materials to showcase your photos, all at one compelling standard price. (What others consider extras, we consider standard!)
But what makes a photo book truly unique is YOU! It’s your life, your stories, and your photos. All the amazing things you share with other members of the Flickrverse every day. From the perfect shot, to your vacation adventures, 365 selfies, baby’s first step, squared circles, or the dream wedding. All the things that inspire you and all of life’s moments can be captured in your Flickr Photo Book one stunning page after another.
Each Flickr Photo Book begins with twenty pages of premium white proPhoto paper with a Lustre finish that meets every photographer’s demanding expectations. Simple layouts dedicate one photo per page in full bleed glory or with room to breathe surrounded by a margin. Bound tightly for maximum security (no loose pages here!) your top shots are wrapped in a sleek, photo wrap high-gloss hardcover complete with a matching dust jacket. No cramped formats, no awkward descriptions, no spoiled memories!
Save time, Flickr fast!
We’re moving fast to bring you new features, tools, and apps to make taking, sharing, and discovering photos fun and easy. We designed Flickr Photo Books in the same way, so you can go from a collection of photos to a photo book in minutes!
Your sets are now a gateway to creating your book: It’s as quick as hovering over a set and clicking on the book icon. Flickr will take care of the rest.
Our intelligent tools analyze, crop, position, and rearrange your photos to look their best. Or course, customization is easy with our Page tools. Slide the scale to zoom in or out, hold and drag the photo to reposition, or click the arrows in the upper right hand corner to switch between full bleed and margin.
Easily preview your book in the Storyboard view. Drag and drop to arrange photos and spreads, delete photos, or, add new ones from any of your sets.
It’s that easy! Flickr Photo Books are here just in time for the holiday season and available within the U.S.* in about a week!
You rock!
Thank you for inspiring us every day to find new ways to bring your photos to life. We are extremely excited for Flickr Photo Books to find a place in your home, with your friends and family, and all the other people you’d like to share them with! And trust us when we say, we’d like to see your books. Once your books arrive at your doorstep, share your designs in the Flickr Photo Books group to let others see your beautiful work.
If you have ideas or feedback, come over to Flickr Ideas to let us know what you think.
* For those of you outside of the Continental U.S., please stay tuned we are working on bringing you Flickr Photo Books soon.
In 1968, the opening of St. Mary’s Church, Red Deer, Alberta, initiated the early beginning of projects designed by Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal that used the assistance of computer technology to bring organically shaped concepts into structurally sound constructions. Curved and flowing forms have become his signature style, and you’ll most notably find them in the exteriors of the National Museum of the American Indian and Canadian Museum of Civilization.
With winter quickly approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s time for the first snow of the year in many places. Enjoy these snowflakes, white streets and landscapes, and take a look at more first snow photos taken in the past weeks in our image search.
Last Friday San Francisco was transformed into Gotham City, where BatKid – with the help of a caped crusader – brought adventure and justice to city. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish foundation 5-year-old Miles rescued damsels in distress, brought evil-doers to justice, received the key to the city and even earned personal thanks from President Obama.
Imagine waking up one morning to find your body inexplicably grown to giant-sized proportions or shrunken down to the size of a bug. Sounds like a scene out of a movie, right? It’s actually just one of the many creative — and often hilarious — series we spotted in photographer Paul Armstrong’s photostream.
“I like to photograph things that are more child-like, sort of absurd,” Paul tells The Weekly Flickr in the accompanying video. “Mostly because I find it personally entertaining. I want people to get lost in the photos, find stories and get a little bit more out of it than maybe just a typical photo would.”
Paul’s interest in photography began in 2005 when he became involved in a beard growing contest called Whiskerino. Part of the contest was for each participant to post a daily bearded photo as evidence. Throughout this process, contestants voted on the best and most creative photos of the day.
“Taking a daily ‘selfie’ can quickly get very dull,” Paul says. “So, eventually I started to experiment in order to conquer that boredom. I began to get creative and that sort of started this itch for photography in me.”
Paul began to post his bearded photos on Flickr. After some time, he was shocked to learn they garnered an incredible amount of attention.
“I couldn’t understand why anyone would like them,” Paul admits. “I thought it was crazy. The pictures were ridiculous, but I discovered a whole new medium where I could explore ways to tell silly, ridiculous and sometimes meaningful stories.”
Paul broke away from his beard growing series and began to experiment more. During the contest, he wasn’t allowed to use Photoshop; something he always wanted to do. Now he had his chance.
“It would be me just sort of breaking into new things, new concepts and thoughts,” Paul describes. “It was just really for my own sake. I have this idea, and I have to get it out. I’d ask myself, ‘What can I do, if I can’t do this? What stories can I tell? What things can I try and convey?’ It was fun.”
“It was his [son’s] birthday, he was getting bigger, and he was excited about getting bigger, so we thought it would be the perfect concept,” Paul explains. “The picture is of him punching and I’m flying through the air because he’s so strong. And we just set that up, and we got a lot of hits and a lot of attention. It was cool.”
After some time, Paul accumulated about 200,000 views on his Flickr page. Feeling humbled, he wanted to show his appreciation. This is how his hit series, “Big Me/Little Me” came about.
“The only way I could think to express how I felt humbled was to be small,” Paul says. “So I made myself be small on my desk, you know, going like ‘thank you’ for liking my photos. And that just kept going. It was hilarious that I looked so small! Soon I thought, ‘What else can I do small?’ And that’s how it all began.”
Paul set up shots around his house, putting together ordinary, everyday situations with the intention of looking tiny.
Shortly after posting the “Little Me” series, Paul flipped the idea and began to shoot himself as if he were a giant.
“I found the juxtaposition hilarious”, Paul says. “I’d be a giant trying to get into my car or at the dinner table dwarfing over the kids. I really liked picking typical, everyday scenarios everyone could relate to.”
Apart from anything else, Paul wants his photography to be more than a temporary snapshot.
“One thing I don’t want to do with photography is waste your time,” Paul admits. “I doubt anyone really cares about what shoes I have, the burger I just ate, or my cat. I want to illicit a response from my viewers — whether it’s a kind of laugh, if they think it’s funny, clever or cute. That’s when I feel like I’ve succeeded as a photographer.”
Paul still feels extremely humbled and surprised by the outpouring of positive feedback.
“I couldn’t have imagined anything like this both at the time and where it is now,” Paul says. “It’s a little ridiculous, but it’s awesome, I love it.”
Do you want to be featured on The Weekly Flickr? We are looking for your photos that amaze, excite, delight and inspire. Share them with us in the The Weekly Flickr Group, or tweet us at @TheWeeklyFlickr.
Our previous Flickr Friday theme was #BreakfastAtTiffanys, and here are our favorites from your submissions.
Diamonds, Pearls, and the beautiful Audrey Hepburn were the ultimate inspiration for your submissions this week. You dressed up in fancy clothes, captured fancy (and intentionally not so fancy) breakfasts, and splurged in impressive jewelery. Thanks for all your great submissions! You can browse through these and all the other ones in the Flickr Friday group pool, or you can dive into the selection of images some of you curated.
This week we are following a completely different approach. The theme is up to you, but we would like you to contribute a photo to the Flickrverse’s every growing pool of amazing #CreativeCommons photos. This is your chance to step out of your comfort zone and get really creative as you are entirely free with what you photograph, just make sure you are comfortable providing your work free of charge to anyone who meets the Creative Commons license requirements.
Take a moment and familiarize yourself with the different CC licenses we offer. Then make your choice, apply the license, and share your photo with us in the Flickr Friday pool. You can apply the license directly in Uploadr on flickr.com, or by going to your photo page, selecting show more next to Additional Information, and editing the default All Rights Reserved license of your shot.
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