So many pictures, so few good choices...

So now that I have tried the new camera, and took a few nice pics, I thought it would be nice to display these online. Web-based photo-sharing sites are nothing new at all, and so I was somewhat surprised that what was available was very limited, especially when it comes to presentation of images.

The foremost of the online hosting sites is flickr, and one of its main attractions is the fact that it is a social network, or a community site where people can easily create groups that have common interests. For example, I quickly found out that Madison has a group of people who meet a few times a week and go on a photo-walk, each time selecting a different event, location or occasion. It is a great idea and certainly sounds like a lot of fun - getting together (for real, not just online), getting to know people who share common interests, and later comparing the results of each photo meet online is a great idea. There are also virtual groups - for people who take pictures using Nikon D40 or for people who take pictures of dogs, or a "squared circle"  group - people who post into common "pool" of pictures  images that have as a topic, well... a squared circle... for example an orange on a square plate (to use just one obviously uncreative example). The list goes on. So, flickr is a great place for photo-hobbyists, and it is free (although a paid $25 a year version is also available w/ additional features). Still, it has its limitations. It is difficult to make photos " private"  restricting access to just a few friends and family - only flickr members can see " private"  pics, and although flickr membership is free, getting an online account to just see a few pictures a friend or relative has posted seems like a cumbersome prospect...

Then, there are comments, which unfortunately cannot be turned off. That means that anyone can post comments below the picture, and although they usually are nice comments (such as "Love the colors, and lighting on this one"), there is really no way to turn this feature off in those cases where you may want to.  There are two even more serious problems.

First, is the learning curve: although flickr is logical and very "intuitive" for a geeky person (like me), it may be complicated to navigate and use. There is no good documentation of features and rules, and figuring out some stuff is nearly impossible (how do you add a picture to a pool?, for example).

Second, last, but not least at all is the aesthetic factor: flickr just looks dorky and ugly - there is just no other way to  put it. Normally, this is a common feature of typical Web 2.0 sites - they are mostly ugly - but in this case the contrast between the main raison d'être of the site (aesthetic pleasure derived from taking and looking at beautiful pictures) clashes rather awkwardly with its visual clunkiness. Even the slideshow feature looks kinda wonky...

Picassa, another similar service run by Google, is a little better, although it does not have the same rich community features flickr has. Oh, well... I'll just use flickr for now, and keep looking for a better solution in the meantime...  

Update on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 8:57 by George

At the end of Aug. '07 I settled on .mac as my primary photo hosting service; you can read the review here. I still put an occasional photo on flickr, and read the discussion group threads on interesting topics.