smiles all around!, originally uploaded by pollyalida.

Flickr is my all time favorite online place. I love photography and what better place to indulge that interest than a site built by photographers from all over the world. It’s just amazing to me how easily we can share the experiences of someone else’s life through their photos.

At it’s simplest, it’s just a really easy way to share photos with friends, family or your library community.  But what I’ve come to appreciate most has been the sense of community here. Through comments left on photos, people make connections and share the events in their lives and communities. And sometimes those connections spill over wonderfully into ‘real life’. And what do flickr friends do when they meet up? Take pictures of course!

Since I’ve been using flickr for a long time now, I used the time for this “thing” to look for features I hadn’t noticed before. Being a travel addict, it was fun to discover the PLACES feature. Here you’ll find pages for places all over the world, places big and small. Each page includes a map, selected photos, featured photographers and flickr groups about that place. What a terrific way to explore new destinations or our own back yards.