Ever since it was acquired by SmugMug, Flickr has made some significant changes and major improvements. The latest among them is introducing a new Events page. It’s a place where you can learn about all sorts of photography-related events, all over the globe. Meet-ups, photo walks, classes, workshops, exhibitions, you name it – and all kinds of offline and online events are there for you to find, attend or even host.
Flickr announced the news on its Help forum, explaining the idea behind the Events page. The Flickr community has a long history of participating in photo walks and other in-person events, such as photography workshops, and of meeting and connecting with other Flickr members in the real world, says Leticia Roncero of Flickr.
“We already see people sharing details about their photography events in dedicated groups and circles of Flickr buddies all the time, so we wanted to make it easier for our members to showcase their plans to a broader audience and help them find others who share their interests.”
Here’s what you can do with Flickr Events and how to use the page:
- Explore a list of upcoming community events. If you are interested in attending any of them, join the corresponding Group, and reply to the discussion so Flickr can keep you updated.
- If you’d like to host an event, learn the basics of hosting and submit all the required details for inclusion on the Events page.
- If your event is approved by Flickr staff, they’ll create a corresponding group for your event (if you don’t have one already). This way you can keep track of participation and engagement around your event.
Leticia notes that events can be free or paid, and it’s up to the organizer to decide. However, only Pro members can showcase paid events, and remember that Flickr doesn’t handle transactions for these events.
It’s worth noting that the Events page is currently in BETA. Still, Flickr encourages you to “try it out, discover all the interesting things that are going on within the Flickrverse, and even apply to organize your own meetup or workshop.”
As Flickr member MabelAmber pointed out, this option looks like “a more expansive and enhanced version of the ‘Flickrmeets’, back in 2006.” It’s not the first novelty that leans on the features Flickr offered before. You probably remember that the platform had printing service for a while before it got canceled. But, it’s back since August this year, with a number of improvements and a pretty decent choice of print types and sizes.
Personally, I got thrilled when I saw Flickr’s official post on the forum. I met some fantastic people thanks to photography. Most of them I met because we connected through Flickr and some of them through photo walks and workshops. So, I will definitely use Flickr Events and hopefully, get to know more amazing photographers in person and get to learn from them, collaborate with them, or just have a fun photo walk with them.
