This week, I was introduced to a new social network platform called Flickr. This website allows you to post, share, organize and comment on photos. I had never heard of this platform until now but it is very easy to use and anyone can create an account. I immediately noticed the variety of pictures ranging from simplistic things to very complex photos. I really enjoyed this because you can see photos that you probably wouldn't notice or see on a platform like Pinterest or Instagram. Usually I would not feel the need to use this platform again but if I would like to just keep an album of raw, simplistic, unedited photos, I do feel like this website is perfect for that and I could see myself possibly using Flickr again. For this assignment, I created an album of my dog and posted on this blog for others to see. Just being able to post something so simple and meaningful to me is what really matters. After reading an article on digital images and photo sharing, I learned how drastically digital photography has changed. The social use of digital photography signals a shift in the engagement with the everyday image that has to do with a move towards transience and the development of a communal aesthetic. (Murray, S. 2018) Flickr is a good representation of this which makes the platform unique. People tend to focus on materialistic things or holidays and vacation instead of appreciating the beauty in the simple every day things like a flower or a historical house. I definitely will say, in todays world, no one wants to come off as "mundane" and lots of people care what others think of them so often photos can be a representation of ourselves. This is why so many people alter or "photoshop" photos to how they want to be perceived instead of showing the natural, authentic version of themselves. The idea that digital images can be manipulated, altered, or constructed without a real world profilmic object, has led many to conclude that digital images are nonindexical and lack the traces of the material past that were so much part of traditional photography. (Murray, S. 2018)
Murray, S. (2008). Digital images, photo-sharing, and our shifting notions of everyday aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture, 7(2), 147–163. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470412908091935
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I too enjoyed learning about Flickr this week. I knew about it but have ignored it for years. I was impressed with the collections of works I discovered by some really talented photographers.
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