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Posts Tagged ‘Flickr’

Library of Congress asks Flickr users in US to submit their pandemic-related images

11 Sep

The United States Library of Congress (LOC) is seeking COVID-19 pandemic-related images from photographers based in the United States, it has announced through the photo-sharing website Flickr. The LOC has teamed with Flickr to launch a new group dedicated to these images; anyone can add their images of pandemic life in the US to this group, which will be evaluated by Library curators. Some images will become part of permanent collections.

The opportunity to submit images is open to all photographers — both pro and amateur — located in the US or its territories, according to Flickr, which is home to the new ‘COVID-19 American Experiences’ group. Flickr users must join this group in order to submit their images for the LOC’s consideration.

Library curators will decide which images get added to the Flickr group photo pool and which go on to become preserved in permanent collections. Photographers seeking this distinction should assign a Creative Commons license to their images that will allow the LOC to display the photos on its website if selected, Flickr notes.

Participants are allowed to submit up to five ‘graphic artworks’ or photographs for consideration. The curators are looking for content specifically related to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Flickr noting that photographers can submit ‘photos that depict your experiences of the pandemic’ on a variety of topics, including things like street scenes, panic buying, elder care and similar things.

The photos can also depict emotions in relation to the pandemic, such as sorrow, grief or joy. There are a couple of big requirements, however, including that the images must be appropriate for viewers of all ages and that they must meet Flickr’s ‘safe’ guidelines, which means ‘acceptable to a global, public audience.’

The LOC explains that its goal is to expand how much documentation it has on the current pandemic, doing so by tapping the wider public community spanning many more aspects and parts of the US than the photographers and artists already higher for special projects.

As of September 10, the COVID-19 photo group has around 160 images featuring a variety of subjects, including pandemic-inspired graffiti, images of masks for sale, empty parks and restaurants, protesters, close theaters, people wearing masks, medical workers and more.

The Library of Congress is home to vast photo archives, including a large number of photos showing the last major pandemic to impact the world: the 1918 flu that claimed around 50 million lives. The public can view the Library of Congress photo archives on its digital collections website. The photos are joined by collections ranging from archived websites to old newspapers, audio recordings and maps.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Flickr increases Pro subscription price after warning the company is losing money

23 Jan

Flickr has notified its Pro subscribers about a price increase that brings the current annual rate to $ 60, a ten dollar increase over the previous $ 50 annual fee. Customers are also offered other plan options, such as a monthly subscription for $ 7, a three-month subscription for $ 19 and a two-year subscription for $ 118.

The price increase is not surprising in light of CEO Don MacAskill’s impassioned plea for more Flickr Pro subscribers published in mid-December. In it, MacAskill explained that parent company SmugMug didn’t acquire Flickr because it is a wealthy company — in fact, MacAskill says, ‘Flickr was losing tens of millions of dollars a year.’

Despite the work that SmugMug put into Flickr, MacAskill had explained that the company was still losing money and that it needed more of its users to sign up for the Pro subscription. This subscription offers a number of benefits for users, including unlimited storage, ad-free browsing, discounts from partners, access to advanced account states, priority exposure in the service’s Explore section and more.

The price increase went into effect yesterday, on Tuesday, January 21. Existing Pro customers are given the option of immediately renewing their plan at the lower price using a link in the notification email sent to users. In explaining why it decided to increase the price, Flickr points toward MacAskill’s December letter and states that the company ‘cannot continue to operate at a loss.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Flickr CEO sends out email asking users to help ‘keep the Flickr dream alive’

21 Dec

In a very candid email sent out to users last night, Flickr (and SmugMug) CEO Dan MacAskill shared the current state of the Flickr platform, detailing the struggles the SmugMug team is facing regarding the financial situation of the photo-sharing network.

The email opens up by saying ‘Flickr—the world’s most-beloved, money-losing business—needs your help.’ In the full email, which we’ve embedded below, MacAskill explains how the SmugMug team has done its best to optimize the platform from both a user and financial standpoint, but it hasn’t been enough. According to MacAskill, Flickr is ‘still losing money,’ despite its new owners’ best efforts to streamline overheard and bring on hundreds of thousands of new Flickr Pro subscriptions.

Put simply, MacAskill says ‘We need more Flickr Pro members if we want to keep the Flickr dream alive.’ MacAskill doesn’t specifically state how long the ‘Flickr dream’ can stay alive in its current state, but such a letter wouldn’t be written if things weren’t heading towards dire.

In conjunction with the letter, MacAskill also announced Flickr’s end-of-the-year promotion that will get you 25-percent off an annual Flickr Pro subscription, a push to bring even more users on board to support the platform. He wraps up the letter saying:

‘If you value Flickr finally being independent, built for photographers and by photographers, we ask you to join us, and to share this offer with those who share your love of photography and community.’

After reading through the letter, we had a few questions, so we contacted MacAskill with a few questions regarding the future of Flickr. Specifically, we asked the following:

In response, MacAskill responded with:

After the above response from MacAskill, we inquired further about the ‘follow-up contingency plans,’ but are yet to receive a response. We will update this article accordingly if MacAskill responds.

The email is an interesting one. MacAskill is known for his candor, so seeing this transparency is far from out of character for him. At some level, the email inspires would-be Flickr Pro members to subscribe to the premium version of Flickr. However, it also instills fear in current Flickr Pro members, who effectively see this email as the writing on the wall for their images and the network they’ve built on the platform. Proof of this dichotomy is clearly visible in the Reddit thread regarding this email, where users strike a balance of respect for MacAskill and the SmugMug-owned version of Flickr while simultaneously showing concern for the future of the platform in the comments.

Full email:

Dear friends,

Flickr—the world’s most-beloved, money-losing business—needs your help.

Two years ago, Flickr was losing tens of millions of dollars a year. Our company, SmugMug, stepped in to rescue it from being shut down and to save tens of billions of your precious photos from being erased.

Why? We’ve spent 17 years lovingly building our company into a thriving, family-owned and -operated business that cares deeply about photographers. SmugMug has always been the place for photographers to showcase their photography, and we’ve long admired how Flickr has been the community where they connect with each other. We couldn’t stand by and watch Flickr vanish.

So we took a big risk, stepped in, and saved Flickr. Together, we created the world’s largest photographer-focused community: a place where photographers can stand out and fit in.

We’ve been hard at work improving Flickr. We hired an excellent, large staff of Support Heroes who now deliver support with an average customer satisfaction rating of above 90%. We got rid of Yahoo’s login. We moved the platform and every photo to Amazon Web Services (AWS), the industry leader in cloud computing, and modernized its technology along the way. As a result, pages are already 20% faster and photos load 30% more quickly. Platform outages, including Pandas, are way down. Flickr continues to get faster and more stable, and important new features are being built once again.

Our work is never done, but we’ve made tremendous progress.

Now Flickr needs your help. It’s still losing money. Hundreds of thousands of loyal Flickr members stepped up and joined Flickr Pro, for which we are eternally grateful. It’s losing a lot less money than it was. But it’s not yet making enough.

We need more Flickr Pro members if we want to keep the Flickr dream alive.

We didn’t buy Flickr because we thought it was a cash cow. Unlike platforms like Facebook, we also didn’t buy it to invade your privacy and sell your data. We bought it because we love photographers, we love photography, and we believe Flickr deserves not only to live on but thrive. We think the world agrees; and we think the Flickr community does, too. But we cannot continue to operate it at a loss as we’ve been doing.

Flickr is the world’s largest photographer-focused community. It’s the world’s best way to find great photography and connect with amazing photographers. Flickr hosts some of the world’s most iconic, most priceless photos, freely available to the entire world. This community is home to more than 100 million accounts and tens of billions of photos. It serves billions of photos every single day. It’s huge. It’s a priceless treasure for the whole world. And it costs money to operate. Lots of money.

Flickr is not a charity, and we’re not asking you for a donation. Flickr is the best value in photo sharing anywhere in the world. Flickr Pro members get ad-free browsing for themselves and their visitors, advanced stats, unlimited full-quality storage for all their photos, plus premium features and access to the world’s largest photographer-focused community for less than $ 5 per month.

You likely pay services such as Netflix and Spotify at least $ 9 per month. I love services like these, and I’m a happy paying customer, but they don’t keep your priceless photos safe and let you share them with the most important people in your world. Flickr does, and a Flickr Pro membership costs less than $ 1 per week.

Please, help us make Flickr thrive. Help us ensure it has a bright future. Every Flickr Pro subscription goes directly to keeping Flickr alive and creating great new experiences for photographers like you. We are building lots of great things for the Flickr community, but we need your help. We can do this together.

We’re launching our end-of-year Pro subscription campaign on Thursday, December 26, but I want to invite you to subscribe to Flickr Pro today for the same 25% discount.

We’ve gone to great lengths to optimize Flickr for cost savings wherever possible, but the increasing cost of operating this enormous community and continuing to invest in its future will require a small price increase early in the new year, so this is truly the very best time to upgrade your membership to Pro.

If you value Flickr finally being independent, built for photographers and by photographers, we ask you to join us, and to share this offer with those who share your love of photography and community.

With gratitude,

Don MacAskill
Co-Founder, CEO & Chief Geek
SmugMug + Flickr

Use and share coupon code 25in2019 to get 25% off Flickr Pro now.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Flickr triples maximum display resolution to 6K for Flickr Pro members

21 Oct

Flickr has announced it’s dramatically increasing the maximum supported display size for its Flickr Pro members, effectively tripling the current maximum resolution.

Until now, Flickr images were limited to being displayed at 2048px on the longest side. Now, the maximum display size is getting increased to 6144px (6K) on the longest side for Flickr Pro members.

According to the announcement post in Flickr’s help forum, ‘All new and previously uploaded photos from Flickr Pros with an original size larger than 6K will automatically be displayed in the largest size possible on Flickr, or the largest size set in your preferences […] Smaller photos will be displayed in the largest size possible for the original media.’

The increased maximum display resolution is already available to all Flickr Pro members. In the event you don’t want your images to be shown at the new 6K resolution, there’s a dedicated option to set the maximum display size. Those who aren’t Flickr Pro members will be limited to 2K resolution.

You can find a number of high-resolution example photos in the announcement post.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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You can now order photo books, prints and more directly through Flickr

31 Aug

Flickr has announced a new printing service that allows members to order prints, wall art, frames and printed mugs directly from their photostream. Developed in conjunction with SmugMug the service uses print houses in Minnesota, California and Scotland to fulfill the orders, as well as Blurb and Chatbooks for the photo book services.

The new service appears on the user’s photostream, image viewing and home pages as a Print menu item at the top of the page and/or a shopping cart at the bottom. Clicking either of these icons opens a new dialogue with product choices that include paper prints, wall art, desk art and keepsakes. The paper print section is divided into regular print sizes that fit standard frames, ‘other sizes’, panoramic prints and square sizes. The smallest print is 5 x 3.5in and the largest on offer is 20 x 30in.

When choosing canvases the site shows the area of the image that will be lost to the wrap. Print previews also show when the proportions of the image don’t match that of the paper

The wall art section contains options for canvas prints, framed images as well as printing on to metal and acrylic. Clicking on the photobook option takes you into a Flickr dedicated section of the Blurb website.

As a guide, 6x4in prints cost $ 0.76 each – with no apparent discount for multiple copies of the same image – and a 30x20in print will cost $ 22.80. Postage for print orders seems to be $ 14.59 however many you order, whether one or a hundred.

For more information see the Flickr prints information page.

{pressrelease}

Print Boldly with photo prints on Flickr

We’re thrilled to bring every photographer on Flickr a new professional-quality printing experience. Whether you’re a passionate beginner or a seasoned Pro, you can now order prints from the best pro labs around the world, capturing the beauty of the images that mean the most to you.

How does it work?

Whether you want to order a statement piece for a space you’re decorating or paper prints to share with family and friends, you can shop print products with just a few clicks.
Log in to your Flickr account and select the brand new Prints menu item in the upper navigation. You’ll be able to select the photo you want to print, choose the product style, size, and finish and add to cart. When you’re done making your selection, go to your cart and check out.

Or, while you’re browsing through your Photostream, choose a photo, click the new shopping cart icon, and select the product (we love the metal prints) to add it to your cart. Simply repeat this step to add more photos and items to your cart. When you’re done shopping, head back to your cart (accessible through the Prints menu item in the upper navigation) and check out.

Why print through Flickr?

We’re committed to making Flickr your be-all home for photography and this is just one more step to giving photographers better ways to let their photos live beyond the pixel. We are partnering with some of the best photo labs on the planet (Bay Photo, Loxley Colour, and White House Custom Colour) to make sure that no matter what size or shape your print, you’re getting professional quality prints each and every time.

What kind of prints can I get?

Metal prints: When you want to stand out.
Metal prints deliver unparalleled color and vibrance to produce a depth and clarity unlike any other photographic wall art. If you want a print as bold as your most epic photo, look no further than metal prints.

Paper prints: Big or small print them all.
Paper prints are a time-honored way to show off and share your favorite photos. From stacks of 4x6s to frameable statement pieces, you’ll be able to find the perfect size and paper finish for your favorite photos.

Canvas prints: Add a little class to your casa.
Add a little class to your home, office, or whatever other space needs the finesse of a classic canvas print. With shapes and sizes perfect for wherever you want to hang your photos, your images will look outstanding.

While you’re at it, come join the new Flickr group: Print Boldly. There will be lots of discussions and conversation around preparing your photos for printing, finding inspiration around what to print, and exclusives and deals for all members.

We’ve been lucky enough to lean on our friends at SmugMug to develop this new feature. This has been an awesome opportunity to take advantage of our sister product teams’ skills to build something new while most of the core Flickr team was consumed by the migration including getting Camera Roll up and running again. It was a team effort!

Have fun and #printboldly!

{/pressrelease}

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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US visa applicants must soon submit social media accounts including Flickr, Instagram

05 Jun

The majority of U.S. visa applicants are now required to submit social media handles/usernames as part of their applications. This requirement, which was billed as a necessity for national security by the State Department, includes Instagram and Flickr among the 20 social platforms listed on its online application form.

The new requirement applies to both tourism and immigration visas, according to the Associated Press, which reports that in addition to select social media accounts from the past five years, applicants are also required to submit previous email addresses and phone numbers. The requirement was proposed in early 2018.

The State Department includes a number of popular social media services on its application form, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Flickr and even the mostly defunct Google Plus and Myspace. A few social networks popular outside of the U.S. are also included, such as China’s Sina Weibo and Russia’s Vkontakte.

According to a report from The Hill, ‘Applicants will have the option to say that they do not use social media if that is the case. The official noted that if a visa applicant lies about social media use that they could face “serious immigration consequences” as a result.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Flickr partners with Pixsy to create end-to-end platform for protecting image copyrights

09 Apr

Flickr has announced a new strategic partnership with Pixsy, an online legal-tech service that helps photographers protect and enforce their copyrights. The new partnership allows Flickr Pro users an end-to-end solution to track their images and take legal action in the event a photograph is stolen and used illegally.

Starting today, Flickr Pro members can integrate their Flickr images with Pixsy’s advanced monitoring and protection platform which allows access to 1,000 monitored images, 10 DMCA takedown notices and unlimited case submissions.

When a copyright infringement is detected by Pixsy, an alert will be sent to the user with the option to decide what should be done next. The press release says ‘Photographers have access to a comprehensive case resolution service to recover lost licensing revenue and damages, along with the tools to register images with the US Copyright office and send automated DMCA takedown notice.’

Pixsy works alongside law firms around the globe on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. Pixsy says it’s handled more than 70,000 copyright infringement cases to date, resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue.

To get started, head to your account settings page on Flickr, locate Pixsy under the ‘Pro Perks’ section and select ‘Redeem.’ From there you’ll be directed to Pixsy, where you will link your Flickr and Pixsy accounts.

For more information, head on over to Flickr’s announcement post.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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No, Flickr didn’t hand your photos over to corporations for machine learning

16 Mar
A screenshot of illustrated portraits shared on IBM’s Diversity in Faces dataset website.

Earlier this week, Flickr started taking heat across the web after it was specifically mentioned in a report from NBC News that took a deep dive into the ‘dirty little secret’ of using Creative Commons images to help train facial recognition algorithms.

The report mentioned multiple datasets used to help companies train machine learning algorithms to better comprehend diversity in facial recognition programs, but one dataset in particular was emphasized and elaborated on: IBM’s ‘Diversity in Faces’ set that was derived and iterated upon from more than 100 million Creative Common images gathered by Yahoo and released for research purposes back in 2014.

Almost immediately, users around the web started raining down critical comments. Others, such as Flickr’s own Don MacAskill, chimed in as well to help clarify the situation.

The issue isn’t that Flickr is handing over your photos for free to corporations looking to train their artificial intelligence algorithms. It’s that users are sharing their photos under various Creative Commons licenses without fully comprehending what those licenses entail

After the dust settled from the initial publishing of the report and the subsequent commentary across social media, one thing became clear: the issue isn’t that Flickr is handing over your photos for free to corporations looking to train their artificial intelligence algorithms. It’s that users are sharing their photos under various Creative Commons licenses without fully comprehending what all those licenses entail, a concern Flickr specifically referenced just recently in their announcement to save all Creative Commons photos on its servers.

After all, IBM didn’t sneakily pull private photos off of Flickr to use and Flickr didn’t just hand over millions of protected photos, despite the overtone NBC News’ article might give off. The photos IBM used to build up its database were the same photos any one of us can find when searching for public, Creative Commons photos on Flickr.

Don MacAskill, SmugMug Chief Executive and head of Flickr, shared his take on the situation in a conversation with Olivia Solon, the author of the NBC News article, explaining that no ‘scraping’ of Flickr images was done, as the photos were opt-in Creative Commons licensed photos. Below was MacAskill’s first response, but the entire thread is worth the read.

Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons, even chimed in on the conversation with an official response on Creative Common’s blog. In it, Merkley addresses the concerns of Flickr users and went so far as to contact IBM ‘to understand their use of the images, and to share the concerns of our community.’

In it, Merkley writes (emphasis ours):

While we do not have all the facts regarding the IBM dataset, we are aware that fair use allows all types of content to be used freely, and that all types of content are collected and used every day to train and develop AI. CC licenses were designed to address a specific constraint, which they do very well: unlocking restrictive copyright. But copyright is not a good tool to protect individual privacy, to address research ethics in AI development, or to regulate the use of surveillance tools employed online. Those issues rightly belong in the public policy space, and good solutions will consider both the law and the community norms of CC licenses and content shared online in general.

The overarching theme that stands out amongst this ongoing debate is that it’s not always clear to users, especially those who aren’t as engrained in the online world of photography, what Creative Commons licenses cover and fair use actually is. Flickr doesn’t shy away from explanations and links out at various stages throughout the upload process and in its FAQ, but even the Creative Commons website lacks clear definition — something it’s already addressing with new FAQ pages that it will continue to update.

“Copyright is not a good tool to protect individual privacy, to address research ethics in AI development, or to regulate the use of surveillance tools employed online.”

Ultimately, the current copyright system that’s intended to prevent other people profiting from creative works, wasn’t necessarily designed to protect your images from this type of use. Those images don’t end up in devices, nor is anyone directly profiting from your creations, so existing rules don’t necessarily offer any protection, whatever rights you assert. The cost of your camera or smartphone getting that bit smarter might just be that your photos are the ones being used to train it.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Flickr says it will spare all Creative Commons photos, announces ‘in memoriam’ accounts

10 Mar

Last November, SmugMug announced a number of changes the photo-sharing site would be undergoing in the coming months as part of a clean-up operation of sorts to help streamline Flickr assets and unused accounts. One of those changes was the news that free accounts would be limited to 1,000 images and any images over that limit would be deleted.

Almost immediately, Flickr caught flack for the decision, especially surrounding the vast amounts of Creative Commons images hosted on the photo sharing site. Within a week, Flickr announced it was sparing Creative Commons and public domain images and also sparing non-profits from the 1,000 photo cap.

Now, Flickr is going a step further. In a blog post, Flickr says it will not be deleting any public, freely licensed images from its platform, regardless of who’s operating the account.

‘In this spirit, today we’re going further and now protecting all public, freely licensed images on Flickr, regardless of the date they were uploaded,’ reads the blog post. ‘We want to make sure we preserve these works and further the value of the licenses for our community and for anyone who might benefit from them.‘

Flickr isn’t just rolling over though. To combat accounts from simply switching all their photos to Creative Commons without understanding what all it entails in hopes of still hosting their photos on the site, Flickr has disabled the bulk license change tools in the Settings menu.

‘We’ve done this to prevent community members from flipping all their images to a new license without first understanding the significant implications of the various free licenses we support. Any member (Free or Pro) can still change the license of any of their photos on the photo page.’

Additionally, Flickr is introducing ‘in memoriam’ accounts. These accounts come after concern from users about what happens to their images after they pass away (or late photographers who still have images on Flickr).

Flickr says ‘in memoriam’ accounts ‘will preserve all public content in a deceased member’s account, even if their Pro subscription lapses […] The account’s username will be updated to reflect the “in memoriam” status and login for the account be locked, preventing anyone from signing in.‘

Flickr has created this dedicated form to help identify accounts in need of ‘in memoriam’ status.

To help preserve the accounts of members who have already passed away, Flickr is asking for help to identify existing accounts that are deserving of ‘in memoriam’ status. A dedicated article has been added on Flickr’s Help Center to help explain the process.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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