Do you Flickr? More than being one of the top online photo management and sharing applications with users worldwide, Flickr is where I go to find inspiration on a daily basis. It's a fantastic place to roam about and see the world without leaving your desk. You're often stepping into someone else's home, seeing their freshly baked batch of cookies, watching their progress as they stitch a quilt or decorate their living room -- and I find this all extremely exciting and motivating.

A few of my favorite photos found on Flickr. Click on this link and then click on the image you like for photo details and the photographer name.

If you don't know much about Flickr I encourage you to simply open a basic account at no charge and start navigating the site to get a feel for how it works. Create a profile and upload a few photos*. Read as much as you can here, you should find the answers to most questions that you'll have as you dip your toe in. 

Along with uploading photos, Flickr offers way more features that include organizing your photos into sets and, along with their growing number of amazing partners, you have the option of altering images or even transforming them into posters, books, cards, frames, photo shirts and more.

If you aren't interested in all that razzle dazzle and you just want to look at and/or share photos, you can upload your pics, join groups, and comment on the photos of others because it's the quickest way to get out there and network. You can even take it a step further and reach out to someone by adding them as a friend (found on their profile page top right) or you can contact them privately via Flickrmail, this option is also under the user profile, click on Send Flickrmail below their user name. I've made lots of new friends this way -- I currently have 760 contacts from as far away as Australia!

I tend to gravitate towards other members like me, creative types, design addicts, animal lovers, and travel nuts and find refreshment watching what they're up to. So many love to share their process or final results through images. I also love a gorgeous photo, especially fashion photography, exotic locales, animals, and urban landscapes. The more I see, the more I'm inspired and motivated to take on new and exciting projects, sew, travel, paint, play around with photo editing software, become a better photographer... You name it. It's an extremely positive experience for me.

Photo from Nina van de Goor of her living room.

Once you learn the basics and get going on Flickr, you may enjoy a few of my personal contacts listed below. You can even add me as a friend.

• Maria (known as Mav) lives in Portland, Maine and photographs her life in a way that feels so intimate and calming, I love her work.


• Lori is an Interior Designer in Canada known as the 10 Cent Designer and she shares her home and recent design projects (tour her home here).


• Jonathan Lo (Happy Mundane) shows of his shiny happy life in sunny southern California, his photos make me want to pack my bags and leave New England far behind. This guy has an amazing eye for style and design. Tour his home here.


• Nina van de Goor shows beautiful images of her home in the Netherlands, bravo Nina!


• Jen Altman is Fieryeyed and a master at capturing light and the beauty of  the everyday' in ways that will amaze you and make you look at your own life with more of a creative eye.
  


• Jen, aka Simply Photo, is a Brooklyn-based photographer that I've been following for awhile now, another great photographer.


• Stephanie Barnes is Little Birds, a creative lady living in Portland, OR with photos that teach you to appreciate the beauty behind some of the most normal routines we follow in a single day -- sipping tea, enjoying the sun, enjoying a warm bowl of oatmeal.


• And talent runs in the family as Barnes' sister is San Francisco-based artist Lisa Congdon known as Bird in the Hand and photographs pieces of her life from being an artist and shop owner to new dog mommy. I enjoy her journey, she's such a positive force.


• Creature Comforts is Ez from southern California who trained as a fashion designer and has a thing for Photoshop and faded photography. Another one with an amazing eye for style.


• Australian photographer Natalie Jeffcott goes under the name Arthur's Circus and she adores vintage finds and lots of primary colors in her home.


• Chrissie White may be young (14!), but as a photographer her photos exhibit maturity way beyond her years.


• ...And finally (for now) another fabulous Californian, Danske. Her work is laid back and dreamy.

Also, I should mention a few groups that I belong to where many come together to share photos according to theme: Corners of My Home, Mid Century Modern Interiors, Creative Collections (a group I formed out of my love of collections last year), and Organization is for Squares.

Do you have a Flickr favorites view to share? Any groups or people that you really love there that you'd like to share? Don't be shy - post your suggestions in the comments space below.

*With anything that you post online, it's important to note a rule of thumb I stand firmly behind: Make sure that what you share isn't anything that you wouldn't mind seeing on a billboard alongside the highway. My professor drilled this simple but often overlooked truth into us once in a communications class and I never ever forgot it. In other words, if you question sharing something (from how you look in a bikini to photos of your children) then simply don't share it! Only post photos that you want others, potentially thousands of strangers included, to view that won't come back to haunt you later.