In this edition of The Weekly Flickr, we asked you to help us celebrate those special women in our lives: mothers. We wanted you to share your photos of them and tell us the best advice she’s ever given to you. What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than to hear their wise words that inspire our lives!

We received countless photos and testimonials from participants, and here you’ll find a selection of them submitted to us. Happy Mother’s Day!

After you’ve watched the video, be sure to check out the photos in our “Mother’s Day” galleries.

“The best advice she gave me is to lead a happy, healthy and full life — such as hers. I need to be mentally and physically strong, which is possible if I keep myself fully engaged in activities I enjoy and avoid worrying.” -KV Gopalakrishnan

“The best advice my mother gave me was, ‘Don’t ever let the negative things in life get you down.’” – ✈ Sean Marc Lee 李子仁

“The best advice my mom ever gave me was to save money. It sure has come in handy at times when I’ve wanted to buy something that wasn’t necessary, and I would think of mom and usually decide against the purchase. My mom is the best, and she certainly had a lot of advice, but I think ‘save money’ is my favorite.” – Doggie Luver

“The best advice she ever gave me was you have to remember to always smile and keep your head up because your smile could make anyone’s day. I’m not saying don’t be sad, we need a little sadness to truly appreciate the good in our lives. But at the end of the day, knowing you made someone’s day with just a smile will always put a smile on your face. I’m not going to be with you forever, but I want the image of your smile to be my last memory; that, would be my heaven.” – Omolade A. Oke | Human

“More than advice, she is my example and shows me how to be better all the time.” – M.Moraes Fotografia

“The best advice my mom gave me was to work hard and get along with others.” – disneymike

“My mother told me to notice all the beauties of the world.” – Room With A View

“The best advice my mom gave me was to lead by example, to never forget where I come from and be proud of who I am.” - patrick j. clarke

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.

Last Flickr Friday all we said was “Flickr Friday, Flickr Friday, Flickr Friday”, introducing our latest theme Repetition.

And you went out to gather beautiful repetitions: We saw repetitions in architecture, celebrating, colorful crowds, fractals in nature, and many other wonderful patterns all around you. Don’t miss all the contributions in the Flickr Friday group pool, and stay tuned for our next challenge that we’ll announce in less than a day!

Photos from Tobias Hone, Daniel Friesenecker, Dennis Dekkers, Beeches Photography, Alan Swan!, KhanaSpector, AJaaay, and gerard ferry.

#FlickrFriday is a weekly photography project that challenges your creativity. For a chance to be featured on FlickrBlog, follow @flickr on Twitter & like us on Facebook and look for the weekly theme announcement every Friday. Browse the Flickr Friday category for more.

In the ’70s, the now 71-year-old Toyo Ito combined words “urban” and “robot” into Urbot for his studio’s name in Japan, beginning a decades-long journey to career prominence. He’s labeled as a pioneer of conceptual architecture, a design approach that’s inspired by ideas external to the industry’s traditional guiding principles. As this year’s recipient of the highest honor in architecture — the Pritzker Prize — Ito’s vision in creating buildings for public environments is always forward-thinking. ”I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works,” he states in the official announcement of the award.

Explore more of his works in the Architecture by Toyo Ito gallery, Toyo Ito / 伊東豐雄 group, and see works by prestigious architects in the Pritzker Laureates group.

Photos from Pete Sieger, j.towbin, Gon.photo, Londer Ray.tw, and guen-k.

An assortment of beautiful photos capturing variations of yellow hues in landscapes, street scenes, abstracts, and flowers.

Do you want more? Explore, and share, more photography with a focus on all those wonderful shades of gold, ochre, and mustard in the Plenty of Yellow gallery.

Photos from The Man From Utopia, KM Preston Photography, idi0t, Nitekite, pierre m, maybemaq, Passenger32A, and harinaivoteza.

We are once again accepting new registrations for The Commons, Flickr’s photo collections from our awesome institution pals all across the globe! To celebrate, we’re launching two new institutions today:

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland:

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is the official place of deposit for public records in Northern Ireland. PRONI hold millions of documents which relate chiefly, but by no means exclusively, to present-day Northern Ireland.

Deseronto Archives:

Deseronto Archives looks after documents, photographs and other materials relating to the town of Deseronto in eastern Ontario, Canada. Deseronto was a major centre for the lumber industry in the nineteenth century and the site of two Royal Flying Corps pilot training camps in the First World War.

Hooray! If you’re an institution and are interested in joining their ranks, sign on up!

Here’s a photo tribute to all the brave firefighters battling recent fires that threaten thousands of homes and lives this spring.

In Southern California, firefighters expect to fully contain the latest wildfire that’s scorched 44 square miles of mountainous territory by this afternoon. According to investigators, arson was ruled out as the cause of the fire and an accidental roadside ignition may have initially lit the blaze, which is one of over 600 wildfires endured by California so far this year.

See more photos in the California Wildfires 2013 gallery.

Photos from Code20Photog, G.Chamberlain, jdmuth, G. Reaper, Have Fun SVO, and Sergio Antonio Martinez.

The temporary aspect of sand as an art medium doesn’t scare away the artists of these ambitious creations, and we’re so glad that tons of photos from our community capture the beauty of their impermanent work for us to enjoy. Just take in the incredible detail of the Alien’s neck, the neatly stacked busts of The Ramones, and the posed women by sculptor extraordinaire Susanne Ruseler. With so much artistic talent to appreciate, we strongly encourage you to view more in the Sand Sculptures 2013 gallery.

You can also explore more sand sculptures from the group exhibitions featured here: Weymouth, Dorset, England, U.K. | Weston Super Mare, England, U.K. | Frankston, Melbourne, Australia

Photos from sheilabythesea, Di’s Free Range Fotos, Susanne Ruseler, charliejb, and Louis^.

When it comes to describing Garth Hill’s photography, many call it “dream-like,” comparing him to Salvador Dalí or René Magritte. But if you ask Garth directly, he says his Flickr name best defines his work.

“On Flickr, I go by Photoimaginarium,” Garth says in the accompanying video. “When you go to my stream, it’s always going to be a blend of photography and imagination.”

Garth considers himself both an amateur photographer and an amateur philosopher. “It’s important to me that the viewers have a deep connection to the work,” he says. “Also that their imagination comes alive, that they get inspired by what they see. It’s about connecting with the viewer.”

Garth takes all his pictures with a point-and-shoot camera and edits his pictures on a free software program called Gimp. He hopes this easy and low cost approach encourages others to create thought-provoking pieces of their own.

“It’s important to me that people have the ability and encouragement to make art that’s fun and deeply personal to them,” Garth says. “From the grandmother living in rural Nebraska to some kid in the city. They don’t need fancy cameras or Photoshop to make fun and exciting imaginative experiences. Anyone can do it.”

Garth uses collage as a basic principle with his photography. “I really enjoy blending different scenes and different people,” he says. “I like to startle a viewer — to stop them — and then the space around that character tends to be full of little details from other spaces.”

Every weekend, Garth takes close to 300-400 shots — mostly landscapes, backdrops, and people out on the street. He likes to work with candids, something ordinary that he can turn into something stimulating. At home, he’ll flip through the images until something strikes his imagination. A good example is, Unwrapping the Afternoon Light.

“I’ll take a character or person from the candid shot,” he explains. “And I’ll pull him out and add in some sky. I’ll throw in some birds. And suddenly he’s in a fantasy landscape. And they’re all ordinary shots I took right on the street.”

One of Garth’s favorite photos is called Live Bravely. The original picture was a blurry shot of a man pushing a baby carriage on a sidewalk. Garth blended the picture with another he took of a cheese grater, made it dark so the viewer’s eye would be drawn to the redness of the carriage.

“When I look at this picture, you’ve got this guy almost walking through a Greek myth of the clashing rocks through two enormous skyscraping cheese graters,” he says, “ I love it because it’s very simple, but it makes people stop and look again.”

Garth believes in the power of symbols and connecting people through them with his art. He admits he’s fascinated by everyone’s different interpretations.

“Everywhere in the world you’re going to have clouds, the moon, the sun, and they might mean something slightly different to you,” Garth explains, “But there’s a way in which all those very ordinary symbols connect people all across the world. They all evoke feelings and everyone has a different personal take. It’s what I love the most about my art.”

At the end of the day, Garth hopes his work is inspiring to people. “I definitely hope that people will do a double-take and get drawn in. And the more that you get drawn in, the more I hope that there’s a chance you’ll start to really connect your own life to the world of art and photography.”

Visit Garth’s photostream for more of his photography.

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.

Last Flickr Friday we asked you to capture something in the moment that it’s Defying Gravity.

We loved the physics-flouting submissions that turned up for this theme, from wonderful examples of levitation shots, to leaps and bounds shot in mid-air. The more interpretive photos featured architectural feats and illusions of anti-gravity. Don’t miss all the contributions in the Flickr Friday group pool, and stay tuned for our next theme that we’ll announce bright and early tomorrow!

Photos from gerard ferry, unoforever, convergingphoto,petertandlund, krissen, reway2007, mswickedmonton, unslugged, Patty Maher, Ash if, Amerikajin, Denzil Jennings, and gypsymarestudios.

#FlickrFriday is a weekly photography project that challenges your creativity. For a chance to be featured on FlickrBlog, follow @flickr on Twitter & like us on Facebook and look for the weekly theme announcement every Friday. Browse the Flickr Friday category for more.

Shots that capture striking perspectives and lighting under bridges.

See more remarkable photography in the Under Bridges gallery, and share your shots with the Bridges around the world group.

Photos from -Siep-, martinturner, cwhilbun, Scott Baldock Photography, Hörspielhörerin, and e600-Stu.