To All my Flickr Friends

.
Thank you for inspiring me!

I joined Flickr about 3 years ago to look at and favourite photos... I sure didn't think I'd ever be uploading any! Then my parents got us our first digital camera -- it was actually a camcorder that took stills, an actual camera came a few months later. I immediately became a shutterbug, and started taking hundreds of photos. I shared them with my mom and dad, but there was still something missing -- I felt like I absolutely needed to share them with the world.

What is a photo unless you have shared it with someone? It's like getting a gift and not saying thank you. My way of saying thank you to God for giving me the gift of photography (and the moment I photographed) is by sharing the photo. Why should I be covering up the beauty he has created by keeping it somewhere deep in the mess of folders on my hard drive, when I could be showing it to the rest of the world?

Slowly and tentatively, I uploaded my first photo - then my second - my third quickly followed - and then my fourth. Still, my confidence was really low -- and I can only thank each and every person on Flickr and beyond who commented on, favourited, and viewed my photos. I first considered myself a "real Flickerite" when I finally uploaded a photo on the same day as taking it -- versus a few months later, after painstaking deliberations on whether it was 'good enough.' Again, I thank you guys for helping me grow into that!

And here's one more thing to thank you for: inspiring me! I can't say I'm self-taught -- I've got hundreds of teachers who don't even know it! So, today, in order to give them the acknowledgement they were due, I sat down and went through my favourites, all 45 pages of them -- twice -- to compile a list of 36 pictures that have inspired me most so far. These are the ones that have really shaped my own way of seeing things through the viewfinder, and touched me with their sheer beauty -- or, in the case #2 and #30 -- made me laugh harder than any other photos in the world!

Here they are... my all-time favourites:



1. watching the world go by, 2. Dandelion, 3. Eyeing... ♫ little egret from bali ♪ ♫, 4. burning skies, 5. me, 6. II, 7. Hattie, 8. Untitled, 9. the eye and the sky, 10. Waiting For Buddha, 11. this american life, 12. Girl near Ga Sai Gon, 13. Colours dancing with light, 14. a family, 15. Untitled, 16. Flower girls, 17. she's back, 18. freckle face, 19. unexpected.., 20. Untitled, 21. two, 22. caught in the net, 23. Sifting Sand, 24. Hmmm ? ..., 25. are you gentle too ? ..., 26. life goes on ..., 27. first taste of rain..............., 28. Swan who felt in love ♥, 29. remembering why, 30. bad breath?, 31. A Flower For Nanny, 32. Atendendo a um pedido especial de uma amiga especial !, 33. smiling at, 34. skeeter hawk, 35. animated speedy, 36. Sunday afternoon

Love, Oksana