it all started so small. i signed up for flickr just because a few friends had accounts and i thought one might come in handy one day. then i uploaded a picture because i had to have my blogger profile picture (the lovely photo of me to the right of these words taken by my sister) hosted somewhere.

the mostly crappy printer/scanner of my sister's that is hooked up to my computer has been there under my desk for 18 months without calling out to me. however, as soon as i posted the first photo to flickr, the urge to go and get my picture boxes out and scan some of the better ones i hade taken over the years suddenly grabbed me with forceful intensity. i succumbed. i scanned about 150 pics and put about 60 of the best up on flickr. no big deal yet, right?

then i decided i needed a digital camera. as it happened, my friend jerry was looking to get rid of his and i got it for a great price. i started taking more shots and uploading them. then i found some more old pics, scanned them and posted those. still...no biggie, right?

two important things about flickr that are not apparant if you are a non-member browsing the site is that first, if you are signed in, flickr displays information about your photos on the main page such as how many times they have been viewed and second you can join photo pools and add your photos. there are groups for snow pictures, beach pictures, specific city groups, refrigerator shots; in short, any possibililty you could imagine. i found one group that had pictures of the contents of people's purses and bags, and since i was newly on the 'man bag' kick i thought it would be funny to post one of my own.

and that was the mistake that undid me. you see, up until then, my pictures got 5-25 views from my friends and maybe a few others viewing them. one or two had comments from people i did not know, and one or two had actually been favorited (favoriting means the person selected it as one of their favorites on flickr, which helps the 'interestingness' ranking of your photo. my faves are here.) by people i did not know. but the man bag picture began to gather view upon view upon view. after it hit the 1000 views mark it began to make the views on my other pics look puny and weak. so i began joining groups (see my profile to see how many) and posting like mad in an attempt to gain views, comments and favorites; the crack, heroin and coke of the flickrholic.

i found groups that would give comments on my pictures if i commented on others pictures and joined them. then i found the ultimate group for me, how great is my photo. hgimp, as it is called by it's members is a group which was designed for those who want comments on their photos but can't handle the truth, so the members give sarcastically great comments in exchance for the same on their photos. most who know me will agree that this is a perfect fit for me.

so now i thanks to my addiction, i have a photo that made it to the explore page(the daily page of most interesting photos) which has 7 favorites and nearly 150 views, i have 10 photos with more that 3 comments, the man bag shot is up to 1261 views, i have 10 shots that have at least 1 favorite and 4 with more than one and nearly all of my top 20 viewed shots have more than 25 views. and i still want more...

...help me. or follow these links and add more views. either way.

my photostream
my most interesting photos on flickr
my pictures that have made it to the explore page