Thing #7--Flickr

Will you use Flickr for classroom, library or personal photos, or in some other way? How? Have you ever used another photo hosting service besides Flickr? Which one? How do the two compare? How do you feel about having your photos in a public place (note that you can mark your photos private too) -- any concerns?

Well, as I said in my last post I've taken a digital photography class here at Austin Peay. We were required to get a flickr account so we could turn in our assignments (easy storage and viewing for the class and professor). Therefore I'll simply post a few of my favorite pictures from various assignments to share with you, my education class! Flickr is an amazingly fun website and I used it for more than just storage and school, I frequent this site also because I love to draw and so many wildlife photographers upload their works here; therefore I can find hundreds if not thousands of references to save to my computer for later use OR to draw from that instant if the image is not downloadable. Actually, the elk drawing I'm using as my background, as seen here was referenced from a photo found on flickr and drawn in photoshop on the spot because I could not save it. Now I have a gesture, or quick sketch capturing the pose and basic shading so I can reproduce this with more detail later on!


To continue with the referencing idea, I could use flickr as a place for my students to look up references for their own works, seeing as I will be teaching an art class. What better way to learn how to draw something than looking a preexisting image? It's how we learn; first we copy, then we practice, and then finally we are able to draw simply from our minds. By allowing them to use these public photos on flickr I can also teach them about appropriation and copyright, how it's appropriate to use references in their school-related work because they are using it for learning purposes and not making money off of it. But they must learn the difference in referencing, and stealing.

I could also use a flickr account in the classroom as a storage site, much like how my professor had us upload our homework, I could ask my students to upload their homework assignments to flickr for me to grade, as well as use flickr to review the students' works with their peers (if I get so lucky to teach a digital photo class of any sort, or even a media class). Flickr is so wonderful, I'm sure I could find many more uses for it in the classroom!