Zenfolio, Flickr

I’ve always loved Flickr. I love the community of (mostly) great photographers, the comments, critisisms and the ability to easily browse your friends’ photos in one place. The problem I’ve run into is the use of my photos without permission. Every  time someone has asked me to use a photo, I’ve agreed; it’s the times when I happen upon a photo of mine that I didn’t get asked to use that bothers me.

I use Zenfolio for my very best photos. This service allows me to sell prints (and now licensing!) directly from the website, allowing me the ability to pay for the sites and occasionally add to my camera gear. It also uses a very high-quality print company for its (my) products. I like the way it’s set up and that you can add it to your own domain. The thing I don’t like is the lack of community as Flickr provides. It’s a lonely website amidst a sea of internet pictures.

My solution to the problem has been to separate every photo, serving the best to Zenfolio and the one-offs and the like to Flickr, under an open Creative Commons licensing. This has worked only so well — it’s solved my copyright problems, but has cut the amount of exposure my photos get, especially the best ones. It also forces the user to go to two entirely different websites to view all the photos from one trip/event.

My new solution (and hopefully the best and last) is to upload every photo to Flickr, using a very apparent watermark and limiting it’s access. The best will still be sent to Zenfolio, where prints and licensing will be available.

I hope this works out well for both the viewer and myself. I should have everything set up by mid-next week, but don’t hold me to it. I hope it’ll be easy to manage from my end and easy to locate photos for you.