Landing on Flickr Explore

On March 23, 2015March 23, 2015 By AngeliaIn Posessed by Nikon17 Comments

Have you ever heard of Flickr Explore?

No?

Well, let me tell you, it’s a page of badassery as far as photographic images go.

The best of the best. The boldest and brightest. The most UNBELIEVABLE photos uploaded to Flickr.

They call it Explore. And if you do Explore, you will be astounded by the talent they choose on a daily basis. That’s right. Every day. From millions of photo uploads, the Flickr Gods choose 500 to display for twenty-four hours on their feature page (called Explore).

That’s one photo out of 17,000 images or something like that. It’s really crazy and the images are crazy good. Did I say that already? They are CRAZY good.

If you’d like to see for yourself, click here. This will take you to the Flickr Explore page for today. At the bottom, you can scroll through previous days.

And this post is not about the secrets of how to hit the Explore page – although I hear there are some, and many have theories on this process. But I do not.

I consider it dumb luck (for me anyway). I’m pretty sure that is how it happened the first time I hit the Explore page. With my image of the vintage light bulb for my Project 52 that week.

And yes, I am happy with this one. The light is stunning. I found exactly what I wanted and executed it exactly as I saw in my head. And NOOOOO. That never happens with me. I, normally, have a bright idea heh! and it NEVER turns out how I envisioned it.

But this image.

It totally did.

And to my surprise (or dumb luck) hit the Flickr Explore page. It was quite a thrill! Thousands of views and hundreds of people favoring your image. It’s enough to make a photo girl proud.

So, twenty-fours later, my image drops to the next day and a new set of 500 images are displayed.

And of course, those images are just as Ahhhhamazing as the day before! Hey, no big deal, it’s just another day of The Extraordinary Images of Flickr.

Life goes on.

Another week, another photo for my Project 52.

But then…several weeks later…it happens again…

Yes, dear readers, my image hit the Flickr Explore page for the second time. And WHAT!?!

This time it is an image of my mean ol’ Maya kitty looking deceptively sweet. Oh, so deceptive!

She is probably my go to photo subject. I can’t even tell you how many photos I have of her from kitten to (almost) adult. She is just very photogenic. I mean look at her. She is just gorgeous. And don’t let her fool you, she bites. And she bites hard.

Several of her kitten photos got a lot of views too.

This one as her eyes were changing from blue to green.

This one the day we brought her home.

And just for fun, here is another set of photos on my Flickr that were viewed quite often. One is from the girls’ beginning of school photos. And the other is for the birthday of my oldest step-girl.

Maybe, they weren’t Explore-worthy, but they sure were view-worthy. I wish I could tell you how it’s done, but alas, it is still a mystery to me.

One thing, I will do…keep posting photos on Flickr and sharing them with you.

Maybe, you will find them as interesting as the Flickr Gods do.

Mid-Summer Life Crisis

On July 12, 2011 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it., Mon Dieu! and all that stuff.25 Comments

At the beginning of this year, I chose the word flourish. I was going to FLOURISH (and rule the world!)….err….something like that.

My goals:

(postaday2011)

* Take a picture every day (365 project).

* Start Photography classes (for certification).

* Begin a side photography business (angelia’s photography).

And do all this while working 40 + hours a week as a corporate travel agent, plus a newlywed wife to my husband, mom to one teenager, and step-mom of two younger daughters.

I. Can. Do. It. All.

NOT.

One by, by one, these goals have slipped from my grasp. One by one, I have given up (yet) another thing I pledged to do, just to keep up with my normal life, much less the hyped up flourished version.

Swimming, swimming, and swimming……you know what, ya’ll?

I’m tired.

It’s not even that this – the list – the promises – the goals – are all I have tried to keep up with. I have, also, had to dog paddle through a husband diagnosed with Lupus this year (to add to his type 1 diabetes, and hypothyroidism). A pretty horrific car crash my family survived. Plus, the new dynamics of co-parenting, me being on the “other” side of custody, than I previously was (this side is MUCH harder).

Everyone said I couldn’t do it all. And???

They were right. :clap clap clap:

I have, officially, burnt out.

Late last week, I wanted to pull the plug. No more Twitter, Facebook, or the Blog. Just shut down. My iphone makes that near impossible to do. But, alas! I would do it. Lights out (except for Words With Friends. I must have my WWF!).

In the end, I decided, going dark was not the answer, but putting the photography business on hold would be. No more sessions for now. I will have “fun”. It will be my hobby (again)(when I have time). It won’t be work and it won’t feel like work. Yay!

I started photography classes in January to boost my confidence. I learned about the technical side of the camera. I, also, learned some of the business side. But it’s pretty hefty in marketing, networking – not to mention – time.

I still lack LOADS of knowledge in everything.

Ultimately, I just don’t think I have the talent, or the vision. Maybe that will change, I just don’t know.

My confidence hasn’t boosted like I hoped, and it’s draining me. I just need to study longer and wait for that elusive confidence factor.

The battle of wills and hopes has been bloody.

The drive to succeed, to learn, to know, to do – while applaudable – is not doable (for me), and it’s making me crazy.

I don’t like crazy. My thyroid makes me crazy because of my Grave’s Disease. I take a hormone pill and it gets better.

So today, I take a chill pill. I acknowledge, I can’t do it all. I won’t do it all. And I’ll do what I can when I can.

Technology is a such a curse, and a blessing.

A friend told me she heard, due to technology overload, the world was on the brink of nervous breakdown. Our brains are not equipped to handle all the information accessible today.

So true.

I think I have overachiever overload.

So this month, I am putting another thing to the side.

And I’m having fun too.

MY GIRLS are back!

The little girls are with us FULL-TIME (squeee!!) for the month of July.

There is nothing like morning hugs around my legs.

And yes, they get loud.

And yes, they fight.

And noise constantly streams from their mouths.

But I wouldn’t trade this month for anything!

Best of all…..Sydney is back from her vacay at Dad’s in Mississippi.

Sydney!!

I have missed her sooooo much!

Mid-summer life crisis? I think I got a handle on you.

Blogging Blues

On November 4, 2010November 4, 2010 By AngeliaIn Blog on with your bad self33 Comments

It’s that ho-hum depression from the same old, same old bloggy topic. In the same old same old, same old blog post screen, to the same old links, to the same tired header.

Feeling like you’ve said that before over and over and over. And maybe you’ve wrung every drop of blog worthiness out of the headlines of your life. Family, crisis, or new hobby. Feeling like your life isn’t so interesting, or maybe it was interesting, and now it’s not….but ~~could be?~~ will be again.

Feeling like you once had a target audience, but since your interests span the horizons, and your ADD fascinates on new things frequently *look something shiny* and keeps you bouncing all over the topic place. Maybe, you’ve lost some readership, but maybe you’ve gained some readership too.

And which direction are you going anyway? Writing, photography, poetry, SEO, or branding? Mom blog, blended family blog, dog blog, or not getting the laundry done blog? Write a novel? A short story? Magazine submissions?

Then, you have your favorite bloggy buddies of all time that just……..stop blogging. I know, right??? Don’t they know I’m an avid reader and hang on every word?? How dare they just stop? And without even a good-bye.*sniff*

Maybe we need some blog therapists to sit with us and discuss our psychological blog issues. Pull up a couch and a laptop. Be our most attentive follower. Subscribe and validate the words on our screen (or photos) before we hit publish.

Then be our first commenter to gush at our brilliance and make us shine.

Maybe we need the blog whisperer – for when your blog posts begin to span out from twice-daily, to once a day, to once a week, to once a month? They can bring you back to the land of blogging and the excitement of when you first started.

Some bloggers take breaks, some redesign their site, and some pick up and move URL’s. To an anonymous one or a new theme. Something. Anything, to shake the blogging blues.

Me? Well, I don’t stay blogging blue for long. It’s kinda like the skies in Texas – give them a minute and they will part for the sun.

So, when I get blue and unsure of my blogging self.