And now for something completely useless

I've been wanting to do this for a while, actually, post the top viewed photos from my Flickr photostream that are viewed on a regular basis using the same search phrase. Counting down the top 10 they start out pretty normal but then get kind of weird:

10) The search phrase "Pacific Palisades park Santa Monica" puts this picture taken with my old 1.8 megapixel camera at number ten:


9) "Glass of wine," a common stock photo search I would imagine, brings up the only picture I have with that title:


8) Another common search phrase is "tennis courts":


7) I really like this photo so it makes me happy that so many people appreciate and are searching for "Karman Gia":


6) "Passport control" or more often than not, "Heathrow Terminal 5 passport control." Wow, really?


5) Another search I find curious for its specificity is "SFFD", not fire trucks or fire department but SFFD - San Francisco Fire Department:


4) All of my photos relating to feet - feet in sandals, cheerleaders socks, my friends wedding heels, pedicures - are in the top 25. The most searched term, however is "barefoot street" which brings people to a photo from Bay to Breakers, a crazy drunken costumed all-day parade that follows a 10k run:


3) Third most popular search is "deformed white tigers." I'm not sure if people want to see deformity or are trying to verify the fact that white tigers are the result of inbreeding (not a separate species), and are usually born with deformities. Here's my top viewed photo of stuffed white tigers trapped in a vending machine, under which I wrote the above description to explain why it bothers me that they are revered:


2) "Cracked glass," surprisingly popular:


1) But the number one search phrase is "men in diapers," making this pic from Bay to Breakers FIVE TIMES more popular than any other photo:

Damn you Flickr!

Unless you're one of my dozen friends on Flickr, you wouldn't know that I've become obsessed; which is not a good thing to happen while I'm unemployed. A friend of mine had been bugging me to join for years and I kept writing back that I was perfectly happy with ofoto, now Kodak Gallery. Whenever I took pictures, which was usually trips and special occasions, I uploaded them there and invited friends and family to look at them. They could buy prints if they wanted although I don't know if anyone, other than me, has bought prints of my photos.

Finally, one day in June last year, after finding some pics of Santa Monica on Flickr, I thought it would be fun to upload some of my own since I'd been photographing my walks on the beach for a while. I uploaded several hundred photos from the last few years in L.A. only to discover that you have to subscribe to Flickr to upload that many. It took me almost a year but the day I planned my UK trip, April 1, 2008, I broke out the credit card and paid the $25 for a year of Flickr. Uh oh. I started uploading everything I had and tagging and sorting. Then I decided that I needed a new camera for my trip to the UK, my old one was well over four years old and less than two megapixels! Most camera phones are better than that now.

Two weeks and 700 photos later, I was a Flickr tagging and sorting maniac. Good thing I don't have a job because I spent about five whole days downloading, reviewing, tweaking, exporting, uploading, naming, tagging and organizing my photos. The reason I am reluctant to join these types of sites is not because I don't see the inherent value, it's because I know that if I like it, I'll get sucked in. It wasn't enough to have a place to send my friends to see pics of my trip, I needed to get more exposure! I joined groups, I looked at other people's photos, I submitted my photos, I made comments, I favorited and I tagged and tagged and tagged. Snapping like crazy at everything, I've uploading another 700 photos in the last month and signed up for Flickr stats which has since become a 7pm ritual, seeing how my photos performed that day. Performed? What's my ROI for this endeavor?

So far, it's not very good. Flickr'ing is keeping me from diligently applying for jobs and I've instead become obsessed with walls and pavement, no doubt fruitful pursuits. What I'd really like to see is more of my friends on Flickr. I know, I know! It's true though, you can't imagine how happy it makes me (and will make you) to see pictures of far away friends, family, babies, dogs and vacations pop up on the Flickr homepage. When I was in England, my relatives teased me for taking so many photos. They said I looked like tourist (imagine!) I explained that in the world that's young and hip, everyone takes pictures of everything. It's just another way that we communicate in this digital age. Showing people what we see through our eyes. That's a beautiful thing, no? So what are you waiting for?