Comments on: How Has Flickr Helped Your Career?

By: Alan Nielsen

Alan Nielsen — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:05:48 +0000

I use flickr a few different ways.

The forums are a good place to get information and share ideas with friends. I had a MUA wanting to get some pictures for her trade shows and portfolio. So I gathered a group of about 8 photographers from the HFG forum and we shot all day with her and her models.

I also have a personal account where I post all my family shots and I have my business account where all my wedding and engagment shots are posted. I then link those back to my blog so that I don’t take up space on my web hosting account. This give me 2 different sources for tags and helps bring in more business.

I too have been contact through Flickr for use of my pictures. One word of advise is do not give your pictures away for free. A lot of companies know that they can find some innocent photographer and ask for their permission to use their photos, rather than go through a stock agency. No contracts, no money! Not good business for me!

That’s about it.

Thanks
Alan Nielsen
http://www.ninelivephotography.ca

By: dilvie

dilvie — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:55:20 +0000

Photoboxr: Flickr helped me get over a million pageviews to my website in the space of two days, made me one of the most famous EDM nightlife photographers in the world, and helped me established some of my best business relationships.

Believe me, telling photographers to stay away from Flickr is VERY BAD ADVICE. It’s one of the best tools at my disposal. Any site that puts your photos in front of tens of thousands of people per month is a GOOD PLACE to post your photos.

I’ve had enough high profile photo editors tell me that they search for photos on Flickr to convince me that any photographer not using Flickr is missing the boat.

By: photoboxr

photoboxr — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:00:42 +0000

Though photo editors due sometimes use Flikr, usually to get an image on the cheap and royalty free, this is bad. How many six figure photographers do you see on Flikr? Getting $600 for an image and usage of that image is a complete ripoff. Even for a stock image that’s too cheap! A photographer needs to place a value on their time and not get so overwhelmed with the, “I’m getting published and paid,” thing. Getting paid is one thing, making a living is altogether different.

By: btezra

btezra — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:41:34 +0000

Flickr has not helped my career to the point that I have quit my day job, I still work my as off in a software company, but it has landed me countless opportunities to be published, to work with local businesses, national publications and have my photography featured in books and other vehicles to earn money and gain a foothold in the business.

I’ve learned quite a bit from those who I have befriended and met through Flickr. I’ve networked w/ the folks I have met through the last four years and passed on recommendations for jobs I could not do myself to those folks I have met in various cities.

By: Benedikt

Benedikt — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:59:34 +0000

Maybe flickr won’t help your pro photographer career, but it can be very useful for self-marketing in other professions?

By: Rod MacPherson

Rod MacPherson — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:12:29 +0000

Flickr and other websites have helped a lot in my self-education on photography. There’s not really any way for me to tell how much of the traffic coming from flickr to my website and my stock portoflios ends up making me a sale, but I like to think it helps.

By: f8onmyside

f8onmyside — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:11:29 +0000

No actual money made, but I learn a great deal from the forums and also from going on meetups and shooting with other flickrites.

By: Dirkvdw

Dirkvdw — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:10:39 +0000

Flickr is not meant to help with a photographer’s career, as it is not a marketing tool. >>>

I disagree totally.

I’m a full time pro in the UK, mainly PR / corporate and high-end weddings, and many Flickr images feature more prominently for keywords / keyword combinations in Google results and in particular Yahoo (by Association of course..) results than many of my own web pages.

I spend a lot of time on keywords / tags / and making an image page unique as possible so that the search engines find them easy .. and they do, and send prospective customers to me every week ……….

Also, working as a self emplyed photographer, networking is important to keep me sane, to interact and be able to comment of images from fellow pro’s and Flickr contacts is invaluable …

I no longer work in a feedback - black hole …….. from a newsroom full of colleagues and photographers 6 years ago, I went to a home office and it drove me nuts …

Flickr is the perfect antidote to that

By: Chris Lupetti

Chris Lupetti — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:09:10 +0000

I sold my first published photo through Flickr. An author found one of my photos here. As a result my name is on Amazon.com. The book is called Across The River. You can find my story on one of my threads.
I also use Flickr because it’s a great way of keeping one’s creative juices current. It’s almost like doodling except it’s in cyberspace.

By: Timothy Schenck

Timothy Schenck — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:08:05 +0000

Posting pics to Flickr got me onoging work for Nikon and almost got me the cover of the New Yorker. Not to mention the numerous licensing opportunities for small time stuff like local businesses. I shoot mostly urban and industrial abstracts, street photography, and construction/architectural.

Like the others said, its a great tool and anywhere you can present your work to a lot of eyes is a good place to have your work.

I also read the pro forums regulary for tips and answers to questions. It’s great to have that community to lean on.