Once upon a time, Flickr was the shit. I can honestly tell you I met DOZENS of people through Flickr and our common passion for photography. I traveled abroad, met people, stayed in their homes, had dinner and drinks with friends made on Flickr, even hosted some of them at my home. Photographers have a common passion and in a way it unites us.

It's pretty sad to see the state of Flickr these days. There are a few good artists left, but many of them have left their accounts nearly abandoned, with their last uploads months or even years back now. I think as a means of increasing my exposure, I post to as many channels of distribution as possibly, but I do see that the "feeling" of Flickr has gone. DA certainly gives me some nice spoils (like this mini-blog, aka journal) and accouterments Flickr does not, and I do feel a sense of greater 'community' here (though many of you are freaks, and I wouldn't take you home to my mom's house for dinner ).

I notice that many photographers are abandoning community sites like this, instead hosting up their own websites as the primary vehicle for displaying their work. Some of them, I think, believe that because they are talented, that having a website means they are now going to get tons of more professional commissions. Sadly, talent and success in business rarely go hand-in-hand, if my local market is any example. I'm not sure I'll get any professional contracts from Flickr or DA or MM, but somehow, I think I do benefit from some of the feedback these sites provide (even if it comes from the 12 year-old manga-drawing crowd). I'm just not sure abandoning community sites has much point, unless it's detrimental to your efforts. You get out what you put in, I suppose. We're all attention whores that want people to see our art, and we want someone to tell us that we're pretty, or smart, or creative, or talented...

Dunno really where I'm going with this, other than to remark that I see more and more people leaving community sites, and I see more and more "community" deteriorating from what I think is fun and I love. I wonder what your opinion/thouhgts are.