#shutter flickr

[grusik]

- by txmx 2

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[2000ghosts]

february 26, 2008

[mysteriouscam]

[bonguri]

20231230 Nakamura park-Meieki 10 by Bong Grit Via Flickr: トラキチさんのお宅なんですね、きっと。 @Nakamura ward, Nagoya city, Aichi pref., Japan.（愛知県名古屋市中村区）

[10am3pm]

あかさたや 川元運送 by m-louis .® Via Flickr: Oct 11, 2022 at 16:09, Kyoto 左京区吉田

[dbluegreen]

Colourful Corner by David Hall Via Flickr: Bormes les Mimosas

[skleznev]

Shuttered Car Dealership, Tekoa, Washington by Austin Granger

[xtrablak674]

The Fall of Flickr:

The Beginning of the End of My Social Media Life

Before I knew what social media proper was I was on a photo-sharing platform called Flickr. For clarification this Tumblr blog isn't necessarily about historical accuracy but I believe I was on the first version that was owned by the creators right before Yahoo acquired them back in the mid-aughts.

For some bizarre reason I woke up at around half-past midnight and try as I did I couldn't get back to sleep. I had done all the cultivating of what remains of my social media garden, and thought let me get that thumb-drive that failed so spectacularly in backing up the files I wanted from my early two-thousand eight MacBook Pro.

I ended up in the folder of images I had saved from Flickr originally called "ordinary people" after the screenname of one of my Flickr-crushes whose photos I was always downloading. I browsed through their photostreams, thats what they were called, like some kind of waterways for images. All these memories came rushing back of all the parasocial relationships I had with the other users, curiously some of the relationship continued IRL. I remember when Erick and Paul came to the opening of my solo exhibition in Bedstuy. Erick had the Flickr account, but a subject of a lot of his photos was his husband Paul. I had developed a crush on Paul that I was very honest about sharing in the comments of the photos posted of him. So catch my surprise when they showed up to my exhibition and also bought a small framed print from my first exhibition. I am pictured with Paul above on the very day.

I am not sure if I ever got his real name, but he was an allegedly bisexual guy from somewhere in the United Kingdom, I think our relationship was a bit more than parasocial with some of our interactions bordering on sexting before that was a thing. I still have some of the very explicit videos that he said he created just for me. I just loved his slim fit form, he biked a lot, but he was also a smoker which was a turn off for me. And to be frank I didn't think he was that handsome, but I found him very sexy and we would tease each other incessantly.

Flickr was the place my artistry really took shape, I was one of those "hobby" photographers, but the encouragement I got in the various groups, forums and ending up on the Explore page really encouraged me to do my first exhibition at the Zion Gallery in Bedstuy with I think ten pieces, it would be the start of a short-lived but immersive fine-art photographer artistic career, I would exhibit everywhere from museums, internationally and nationally and would get a review from The New York Times for my Brooklyn-based solo exhibition.

But Flickr also encouraged my lust, I recall reviewing these self portraits of this guy from Manchester who had such a succulent foreskin, an absolutely massive derriere, the lowest hanging set of testes and meaty soles on bare feet that he would feature in these short videos of himself gardening in the yard in the buff. I watched him as closely as I did those early mini-cam streaming stars, I remember I noticed his wedding band and inquired about it. This was one thing he wasn't open to discussing, but I couldn't help it that I had explored every aspect of his body that it had felt like I had actually touched him myself. But there was one boundary he wouldn't cross and that was his marriage to whomever that might be.

He was another man who I didn't think had a handsome face, his hair was clearly thinning and he had an under-developed chest just like myself that was smooth and flat. But his happiness gardening naked, his endless amounts of pre-ejaculate which seemed to keep his glans constantly wet as it peaked out of his ample foreskin, his love of taking baths and watching his genitals float to the top of the suds and his photos afterwards of seemingly always wet skin. He also had a penchant for a lot of travel photos of him in a full suit with just his penis on display very Mapplethorpian. His photographs were titillating and filled my mind with the idea of this possibly queer salesmen who had a very public private-life always on the road, and interesting fetishes which primarily involved his own body.

There were some friendships that felt more meaningful there was a German about my age who seemed as fond of me as I was him, there was another German New Yorker who had actually approached me on one of the many sex-sites I was on back in the day, but I didn't follow through because I knew about his boyfriend Stuart and wouldn't want to get in the middle of this couple I admired from afar via their separate Flickr accounts.

Even years after Flickr I left Instagram because this Swedish guy who I was quite fond of and I thought was fond of me too would seem to at least once a year be in New York and never offer or consider a meet up. The fantasy and the reality didn't line up so I decided to leave it all and shuttered my account and his teasing but never delivering. The funny thing to me is to see a body part of a person and realize I had very strong feelings for them like this Canadian man who was so skinny he always had those two little marks on the bottom of his bum, a common sign of the extremely thin because they just didn't have enough padding down there.

There was this French red-head who enjoyed dressing up in period clothing, and would sporadically do nude shoots with other Flickr photographers, always tasteful of course. Seeing folks you followed on one Flickr account show up on another one was like having your favorite actor guest star on another series, you always wonder what the experience was like and marveled in the unique pairing. Clearly these folks weren't want the influencers and OnlyFans folks are today but they were fore-daters to how the internet would change and be controlled by the 'popular kids'.

I enjoyed getting stories from Knitboy who actually came to my house to shoot me and share tea about David this New York lawyer with a well-shaped backside he loved to share in various places around the city and on vacations, that was actually squishy to the touch. John never told me how he knew what texture David's ass was. But he also shot this New York ginger who held a special place in my heart for all things red-headed and freckled.

In two-thousand and eighteen long-past the early aughts heyday of Flickr, the platform which hadn't seen as much as an app update in over ten years was purchased by SmugMug who made huge changes and even though I had finally gotten up off of my pennies and paid for a FlickPro account, the days of unlimited images and video posting was over. But Flickr had become my personal archive of over a decade and a half of my images, it was the place I used to give my work official titles and I would usually head to it when it was time to put together a proposal for an exhibition.

I can't remember exactly why I was only sent an email after the fact but in May of twenty twenty-two SmugMug deleted my account! I was stunned and devastated. I had started the neighborhood group Prospect Heights which is still around today, I managed so many other groups one with just my photos in it. All the folks I followed and spoke to, gone. I can now understand the anxiety TikTok users are facing at the potential shutdown of their favorite app.

Mind you by the early tens the site wasn't anything like it used to be, and I will admit like the platform formerly known as Twitter it was the wild west on Flickr, but amongst that there were also some serious artist and some hobbyist who were on the edge of becoming fine art photographers, most importantly it was a digital third space where I felt welcome as a whole person. My account held my intimate photography right along side my more popular abstract work and folks could see me as a whole individual. I remember when I went through this phase of blogging in the descriptions of my photos, all of that was lost.

This was the beginning of the end for me and all my social media, not within a few years, I would retire both of my Facebook accounts, shut down my Instagram, abandon my, oh no thats right SnapChat deleted my account, and Ello would go out of business, the social media network for creative people.

I am still on Tumblr, I have three Tumblr accounts one strictly for my intimate work, one that is my digital obituary where I talk about my life and personal and professional accomplishments, and a last that is all my public-facing work like my abstracts, portraits et al.

Social media died in my household starting with Flickr, I could never come back from the betrayal, I could never recapture the place this community used to be for me and so many others. More importantly I had went through my internet puberty and didn't need to be on the web arguing with folks anymore or lusting after them. Albeit I have never recovered the community I had, Tumblr at least allows me something to do with my fingers a few times a day. I am apathetic to socializing on the internet, having my very small amount of friends text me if they are trying to get in touch with me. Its nice to get caught up in the nostalgia of a moment, but eventually we all have to grow up and move on.

[Photos by Brown Estate]

[grusik]

- by txmx 2

[ultralowoxygen]

Yellow House in the Shade by Neal Wellons Via Flickr: FW Solida 4.5 X 6 Camera, Rodenstock Trinar 75mm f/2.9 lens, F Deckel Compur Shutter with Lomo 100 film.

[calochortus]

Palouse Falls by Benjamin Noblitt Via Flickr: This photo was taken on the night before the Great American Solar Eclipse out in Eastern Washington. It was a little out of the way, but it was worth the extra driving time to see this waterfall that I have been meaning to see for a long time. It was even nicer since it was with my dad! The clouds made some nice colors, but only for a second. I was able to catch the last few rays of light on them. Overall, this is not an awesome photo, but it is one of a good memory and that makes it that much nicer for me to enjoy. Hopefully you all can enjoy it as well!

[alanyahnke]

Steamers At The Downsville Coffee House - July 22,2011 by Alan Yahnke Via Flickr: 1951 4x5 Graflex Crown Graphic - 1939 135mm Kodak Anastigmat Lens - Compur Shutter - Expired Kodak Portra 160nc negative film scanned on an Epson V750 scanner

[sigalrm]

Verkehr by Pascal Volk

[marketingsentimental]

[plantationshutter]

Plantation Shutters – Made in USA Custom Shutters Installed in as Litle as 7 Days.

Ultra-Poly Plantation Shutters, Faux Wood Shutters, Basswood Plantation Shutters.

https://www.plantationshuttersfla.com/plantation-shutters-stuart-florida/.

PLANTATION SHUTTERS FLORIDA, INC

406 FARMERS MARKET ROAD

FORT PIERCE, FL 34982

PHONE: (772) 872-6805.

E-MAIL: santos @ plantationshuttersfla.com.