Article for the day

Flickr spawns online Filipino communities
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 10:50pm (Mla time) 11/09/2006

MEET Stitch, Jolengs, Akumach, Dirth, Bingbing, and Dboy. No, they're not hackers. They're part of a growing online community of "Flickr addicts."

Flickr is now a popular online photo hosting service cum social networking service. It allows people from anywhere in the world to share photos and eventually connect with individuals who share their interests, not necessarily about photography.

Two years ago, some Filipino digital photography hobbyists decided to create the Flickr Philippines group, which has grown to 1,000 registered members, according to Jimmy Hilario, founding member who is known as "Stitch."

Hilario said that for two years, the group, composed mainly of hobbyists, has been meeting regularly to exchange photography notes, organizing road trips, and conducting photo exhibits for its members. Next year, it will hold its second month-long exhibit in a mall in Greenhills in San Juan, Metro Manila.

Their members are not only residents of the Philippines. They have Filipino members in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, he added.

The group was started by a Filipino called "Konsumisyon" who is based in the United States.

"When I set this group up some months ago I was envisioning photos of the Philippines and its culture as a subject. And as I look at the photo pool, I am happy with the variety of subjects ranging from the light-hearted, to the nostalgic, to the serious. They all tell of the Filipino experience," Konsumisyon added in a posting on the group's message board in February 2005.

Indeed, Hilario said Flickr helps them share and learn from others about photography.

"It is a photo sharing website, where you can also share techniques," he added.

In fact, one of their members, known as Farl, has consistently been rated as one of the top contributors in Flickr worldwide, journalist and Flickr Philippines member Bing Ramos intimated.

Another member, Stan, was commissioned for his photos on Philippine Catholic churches, Ramos added.

Flickr Philippines group is not the only Philippine-based group created in Flickr. There are more than 1,000 groups about the Philippines, according to a quick search on the online photo sharing website. The top-ranking are Flickr Philippines, Likas Pilipinas, "Only in the Philippines!," WoW Philippines, Philippines Pearl of the Orient, Philippines Images, Philippines Flickr Meet, among others.

Hilario added there are more sub-groups within these major Flickr groups. He is a member of a subgroup called LomoManila, which is composed of Filipino hobbyists going back to film photography and using an old camera produced by Austrian company Lomographische AG.

In the age of digital photography, some people are going back to the basics, using film as their medium. Still, they use Flickr to share products of their creativity and passion, he added.

"Flickr allows Filipinos abroad to keep their sanity," Third Gonzales or "Dirthman" said. Dirthman who works for an advertising agency declares he's an example of hobbyists who really do not know much about the technical aspects of photography. Yet, he loves to share his photographs online.

Flickr Philippines group has over 25,000 photo contributions from its members. These photos represent varying interests covering fashion photography, nature, landscapes, city life, women, food, people and animals, among others.

The group has an 11-year-old member, but the oldest members are in their forties, added Hilario. Members are usually in their 20s or 30s.

"This goes to show that the online community in the Philippines is strong. But since not everyone in the country knows the Web or Flickr, we're going to hold an exhibit to allow us to share our photographs to other people," he said.

Ludicorp, Canada-based company developed Flickr in 2002. It was launched in February 2004. The online photo sharing service was an offshoot of tools originally developed by Ludicorp's Game Neverending, a web-based massively multiplayer online game. Game Neverending was eventually shelved. In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Flickr.