Flickr

I chose to create a folio of pictures from my study abroad trip to Iceland from May of 2007. This trip was very meaningful to me because it taught me a lot about myself. I was put outside my comfort zone and was able to overcome many fears. It was the first time I was away from my family with an entire group of people I did not know. I did things I had never done before such as riding a horse and hiking through mountains and glaciers. In the end, I learned to live life to the fullest and explore!

I uploaded several pictures on Flickr from my trip to share with others. However, I couldn’t help but feel as though my folio was incomplete. For example, I was very upset that I was not able to see puffins while in Iceland. According to my tour guide we were about one week too early to see the puffins. So, I used Flickr to search for pictures of puffins by typing “puffins” into the search box. I also felt as though I did not have an adequate representation of the capital Reykjavik in my folio so I also searched “Reykjavik” and found several great pictures of the city. Although I am glad I did not encounter any erupting volcanoes in Iceland, I thought it would be appropriate to add pictures of volcanoes to my folio since Iceland is the “land of fire and ice.” To do so I searched “Iceland Volcanoes” and found unbelievable images of volcanoes. Lastly, I searched the terms “Iceland” and “Iceland Waterfalls” to see if I found any other images I wanted to add to my collection. By searching these terms I found many beautiful pictures which captured the glacial lagoons and waterfalls of Iceland. I added the photographs from my search results to the “galleries” section of my Flickr account.

I was very satisfied with my search results. It was simple to search for relevant pictures in Flickr. I now understand the importance of using tags so users can easily find what they desire. I also like the “add to faves” and “add to galleries” features. These features allow users to quickly add photographs to their accounts with just a click of a button. I also liked how Flickr automatically used the file names from my photographs when uploaded to my Flickr account. This saved me a lot of time by not having to rename each photograph. Lastly, I explored the option of printing my photographs. Flickr seems to be a very inexpensive and quick way to upload, share, and print photographs among everything else. This is a service I could really see myself using in the future considering I haven’t printed pictures in over two years because of lack of time and money.

To view my folio, visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaltancak

The name of this folio is "Iceland."