Posted in Analog Adv

A Photographic Community?

Posted on by Danny Watts

Now that I moved back into film photography, I have hardly been able to contain my excitement. My son expressed interest in learning, so I bought him a Ricoh XR1 – it was the camera I originally learned on. The XR1 needed a little work, more on that another day.

I decided to revive my Flickr account. A lot has changed, not all for the good. The website works well for some tasks, the iPad app is challenged, and the mobile phone app does the things the other two platforms cannot. I succeeded in cleaning up the account; deleted 200 pictures, and then struggled to reorganize the albums (hint: use the mobile phone app for this). This entire process was annoying.

I tried posting a picture to a group I belong and it was rejected – I had reached the contribution limit (1 photo). It has been years since I was an active Flickr member and may have submitted 2 photos to this group. Trying to make sense of this issue was annoying, I left that group and started looking for Flickr alternative sites.

  • 500px – created by and for photographers. It is a photo community providing feedback. It also provides marketing and sales tools. Its parent company is Chinese and has been accused of stealing user photos and selling them.
  • Photobucket – a fee-based cloud photo storage service. It doesn’t offer a photo community and doesn’t provide feedback of any kind. A defendant in a class action lawsuit for providing AI access to user photos without the user’s permission.
  • Instagram – too many photo restrictions and I cannot take it seriously. It is Facebook for pictures.
  • SmugMug – (parent company of Flickr), targets professional photographers hoping to sell their photos building a photo business. Lacks a social photo community.
  • imgur – isn’t designed for professional photography (not me) and photos compete with funny gifs of cats.
  • Viewbug – probably the most similar to Flickr. It is a community of amateur and professional photographers.  Viewbug organizes photo contests and challenges, inviting users to collaborate and launch their artistic projects – all for a fee.

Now that I have invested an annoying amount of time reviving my Flickr account I guess I’ll stick with it. I created a Viewbug account, which immediately informed me I had to upload pictures or my account would be restricted. The site provided a Flickr API for easy access to my account, I imported 6 photos. Then Viewbug tried to blackmail me to sign up for their Pro version. I was prevented from accessing my account/photos for 2 hours. I closed the browser tab with the intent of deleting the account – assuming I would be permitted access. The next day I found a couple “now following” emails, and the blackmail restriction was removed. Getting to my pictures/account is difficult by design, you see they promote their Pro features – the free stuff is hidden. And free accounts that upload photos are restricted. So far, I am not impressed.

Sadly, Flickr remains the best and only choice. I would appreciate input from readers using photograph social media apps (Instagram is not an option).

An Update

After an exhaustive search, I believe there is no photographic community-based platform better than Flickr. It is not perfect and their mobile apps need serious upgrades but aren’t all mobile apps needing help? My experiment with Viewbug failed miserably, all they want is to pick my pocket. They are restricting my access until I cave in which is not going to happen. Maybe if I did I would enjoy their platform, but no.

If interested, click HERE to view my Flickr account.

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COPYRIGHT © 2021-2025 DANNY WATTS and CHRONICLES OF A FOUNTAIN PEN.

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I'm a loser as my wife likes to tell me, I enjoy researching dead cousins and playing with fountain pens.

18 thoughts on “A Photographic Community?”

  1. I am still a member of PentaxUser. A brilliant site with an amazing collective of supportive people. I haven’t posted anything for years on years. But I would highly recommend it. As you have a Pentax! 😊 Flickr, I feel, have definitely gone a bit strange. Haven’t really uploaded anything, again, for years on years though. So maybe it is my naivety of not knowing current workings. Glad your son is on board. Brilliant. Cheers Danny.

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    1. Hello Gray, Finding a community dedicated to photography has turned out to be a challenge. As bad as Flickr has gotten they still the best option. Since their latest owner is a photography site maybe changes are coming (good or bad). Of all the options I explored, none are as good as Flickr and that is sad. I belong to a couple Pentax groups, I have to see if Pentaxuser is one.

      My son is very excited. I refurbished (ok I added new felt seals to the film door, etc), checked the light meter, bought a nice general purpose lens (28-85mm). Going thru a test roll of film – validate shutter speeds, changing the ISO vs the film speed, creating double images. You know, film is fun.

      Glad to read you are on the mend. All the best.

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      Reply

      1. Sounds like you are truly ‘capturing’ the film bug Danny. I am looking forward to definitely getting back into that groove. I knew you would be really keen on capturing the technicalities of this art form. Well on the way to understanding ongoing choices as to whether you go quirky and natural. Or technical and go scanner based. Or both even. And you’re even repairing cameras which is awesome.

        I must admit, having downloaded the two books regarding natural processing, I am excited that it will allow an art form that is very different to my previous high contrast Gothic influences. I used old papers and a 1930s enlarger which gave the ambience. Now, the coffee, soda crystals, etc. should contribute unique results. Photography will remain spookily Gothic, but more in the choices of subject matter and not the developing vintage processes. I can’t wait to see how you get on with your photography Danny. And what choices you want to make.

        Today, I still feel really queasy but mikes improved. But Angie has now caught the virus and struggling. It’s really bad over here in the UK with current flu numbers up five times. November and December were difficult and a real struggle. January? Back to recording music.

        All the best.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Norovirus is popular here, as is Covid, RSV and the Flu. I hope to avoid them all, especially Norovirus. Best wishes to Angie… Get back to work, there is music awaiting your return.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. It’s really frustrating with all these virus mutations. We never know what is or where is safe anymore. I visited a Practitioner Associate regarding dizziness about a week ago. You can never see a doctor. And I believe it was there in the surgery that I caught the flu virus. So, you’re right, avoidance is sound advice.

        I did play a few bass riffs over the songs last night. In a week I hope to get back to re-recording the songs properly. Need to find how I can get my electronic drum kit linked up to the Apple system. Then I can play all the instruments without having to wait until Spring for the other guys. Need to find the rock and roll Ramones mojo again! Happy so far though with the melodies I have going on. You yourself need a vintage guitar with an old valve amp next Danny. That’d be cool. 😊 Cheers.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I’m confident the only sounds I could make with a guitar, vintage or otherwise, would be noise. The grandson got a banjo for Christmas. He is headed in the right direction. His father is musically inclined.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Have a go with a ukulele Danny. Cheap as chips too. Lovely relaxed and escapism therapy when playing them. Honestly. No need to ‘fret’ when playing. Joke. You do need to fret. Just put a couple of fingers onto a couple of strings , then strum one simple chord….and hum. It’s magical. I love the little ukulele.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. My honest opinion: There isn’t anything better than Flickr right now for what you want. But I don’t share the negative opinion that you have of the service, at least that’s the vibe I get from this post. Flickr is a shell of its heyday, but it still exists in basically the same way that it did in 2005. There’s still community on there, it can take a bit to find it. In the meantime, keep on sharing photos.

    As for groups, read the rules/descriptions for each one before you post. Some people take the groups seriously (too seriously, IMHO.) If your photo(s) get rejected for an actual reason, move on. If you can’t figure out why it got rejected, ask in the group chat. Remember that there are many, many groups on flickr, so if one doesn’t work for you, there’s probably another just like it. And if there isn’t, you can always create one. I’ve created several groups over the years.

    As for apps vs desktop, how were you trying to organize stuff on the website? I generally upload via Uploadr where I can sort everything as it gets uploaded. And then I use the Organizr for the after-the-fact sorting. Both are features from the start of the website and they have changed little in the past 20 years, for better or worse.

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    1. Thanks for the comment. I agree, there isn’t anything better. I have been influenced by photographers that left. Their reasoning has become mine which is dumb.

      Now that I have the photography bug, I decided to reorg my account by deleting some albums, renaming others. Deleting old albums was nearly impossible. Their help said access the album, hover over “You” and select delete – didn’t work for me. There is no way to do that on the iPad app (my primary device) but the phone app was easy-peasy.

      I do like some changes they have made, I don’t care for the “photostream” so I ignore it. Some of my issues are no doubt attributable to a learning curve, I haven’t been a serious contributor for a decade. Now that I have a Viewbug account I really appreciate Flickr.

      I do read group terms/conditions as many I e belonged to for years… Yes I moved on, there are plenty of options which is one of the reasons I was interested in a photography community.

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      1. Flickr’s apps have gotten better over the years, but the Desktop website still has the most robust user experience. It’s mostly because when Flickr started in 2004, “apps” didn’t exist, whereas Instagram is app only. (Ever try doing IG stuff on a desktop?) I’ll do some things with the mobile apps, but still do most of the major stuff on desktop. If you want to have an easier experience with editing albums, do it in desktop.

        I think that the photostream feature is the best thing about flickr, as I can see the new photos from the people I follow and additions to Groups I’m part of. And it does that chronologically, not algorithmically like Instagram. And there’s been some version of “photostream” since Flickr started way back when, it’s just dressed up differently now.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Again, I cannot say how much I appreciate your insight. I did a comparison and the mobile apps are very wonkie. The app does not have a Photostream of my pictures, yet it does for groups and contributors I follow. Which BTW I think is a great feature. The Camera Roll is based on photos I uploaded and sorted by date the picture was taken. I was confusing the two.

        As I endeavor to find a worthy alternative I have reached a conclusion, there simply is no alternative to Flickr. Viewbug which I had high hopes is applying lots of pressure to purchase a Pro license. They also restrict many features. A popular complaint about Flickr is the limitation of 1,000 photo limit on a free account. Welp, a Viewbug free account limits the contributor to 6 uploads a week. I have found that the Flickr set up is way more intuitive but for those using mobile apps, it needs improving. Hopefully with time. Instead of using the iPad app I usually log into their web site. But their app with all its issue is 100% better than Viewbug app which only supports a protrait view.

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  6. I have been using Flickr for years, and though I don’t get a lot of traction with my photos, I’m not there to promote myself.

    I was an early and long time user of Google+ back in the day and it was a magical place for photographers. So many ways to share information and learn and grow and just generally have fun with themes and concepts. I really miss it. Darn you, Google.

    Anyway, I found that the only site where I can upload my photos and arrange them in albums to share with others, is Flickr. I don’t find it to be a social site, but I use other sites for that. For a yearly fee, I can upload an unlimited quantity of photos at full size, and thus it is yet another way to back them up.

    The weakness of Flickr is the unintuitive way that “organization” works, very clunky. Plus, I hate that they force the awful “photostream” as a default view when I personally prefer the logic of albums where my photos are in order and have a description of the event or place that I provide.

    So, it’s not ideal, but it is also the best option for someone who just wants to get their photos uploaded to share without any interference from the site.

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    1. Thank you for your input. I don’t promote myself either. I’m really looking for a social aspect. I enjoy viewing photos taken by others – it gives me ideas. The sad thing about Flickr no one leaves a comment. Google+ was great back in the day. As a general rule I don’t use Google.

      If I’m reviewing a Flickr account, I go straight to their albums. This was the reason i decided to reorg my own account. The albums were all wrong and it was so difficult making the changes.

      Photostream is missing from some of the Flickr mobile apps, it works well for me on their website, so I don’t use the apps often.

      I’ve been playing on Viewbug for a couple weeks, it makes Flickr look GREAT!

      I guess my biggest issue is expectations, I need to lower my own and that I have. All the best.

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