the mess of the woodland floor

the mess of the woodland floor, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I’ve been thinking about flickr a lot lately. Why do I find it so compelling, so inspiring, and at times so demoralising?

There are some truly great images on flickr. But is that why I’m here? No. It’s more than that – much more. Flickr doesn’t have the last word on great photos – there are plenty of sites out there with wonderful images on. Flickr for me is about friendship, interaction, exploration and support. For me, it is a place to express myself – not just in pictures, but in words too. I find something cathartic in conceiving an image and a concept and marrying them up in my photostream/blog. For me, flickr means that I can share my thoughts – sometimes some of my deepest and most personal thoughts with a community of people who I value as friends.

I like getting comments – who doesn’t? Comments are important – they motivate you as a photographer. To be honest, most people who are on flickr (apart from the dark minority) are here because they are fundamentally creative, and people who are creative often suffer fluctuations in their motivation. That’s all part of being creative and flickr is a place where I can gain encouragement from those who visit my stream, and see that even my most talented of flickr friends occasionally suffer from the same lack of inspiration that I do. I wonder sometimes how I should ride out that lack of inspiration so it doesn’t completely throw me off the horse.

In my quest for mediocrity this year (which is only 21 days old) I’ve become quickly aware of how much that quest goes against the grain. Maybe an important part of me achieving mediocrity might be to realise that I’m only mediocre in achieving mediocrity – if you see what I mean…

Maybe I need to learn that sometimes it’s that which can seem mediocre, chaotic or just messy that actually makes a photo, or photostream, or photographer interesting…

What does flickr mean to you?