Flirting with Flickr

Another hobby of mine is photography and I love to upload to the online photograph community at Flickr. It's a very big community, with millions of members worldwide,  but I love it because I can join groups on Flickr that are specific in nature. So my macro photos of insects go into the Insects of Australia group, my close-ups of native plants go into the plant groups and so on. And the thing I really enjoy is that the other Flickrites are so friendly - we comment on each others photos, we help to identify species, we make suggestions.

As well as my own photos I've been uploading scanned copies of photos from my family's old albums and attaching them to to Flickr groups specific to old photos. I make sure they have tags identifying people and place when I can. And from a family history point of view I've been rewarded by distant relatives making contact with me, or historians interested in local history or researchers after particular images.

Chas Sims (centre) and unknown friends, Mitiamo

Last week I was contacted by a local history group currently putting together a calendar for next year. They want to use one of my old photos (above) for their 'then and now' theme. Don't they look great in their woollen bathers? I imagine the bathing costumes sagged in the water though!!