#blog12daysxmas Post 2 Flickrup?

Boxing Day afternoon tea H365/360 #happy365

On the second day of Christmas my Flickr groups featured strongly again. Of course, I took photos and did everything I did with photos on the first day of Christmas.  But on the second day of Christmas there was more. @emerald_j (emeraldjoy on Flickr) cooked up the idea that we have a face to face gathering for Melbourne peeps to celebrate the completion of the Flickr 2013 PAD challenge.  What a great idea!

The 2013 PAD was a follow on from groups in previous years which my friend @sarahgb in Wales organized and it is true to say that originally there were only one and then two of us from the Antipodes in the first few groups. So how wonderful is it to be able in 2013 to have a face to face gathering of Melbourne members of 2013PAD! We won't be a big group but once upon a time we wouldn't have been a group at all.

After discussion today, we decided to extend the gathering to the #fp13 group as well as there is overlap and it was also an opportunity to meet some other Melbourne Flickr people with, let's face it, a bit of a library background.

So if you are a member of either of these groups and will be in Melbourne on the evening of 2 January, please come along and catch up with other members.  It doesn't matter if you will have completed 365 PAD photos or 156 fp13 photos, or if you have just dipped in and out during the year.  It would be great to see you.

The details of where and when we are meeting have been posted in the discussion pages of both groups on Flickr.  So check up there, or contact me by commenting below.  I am looking forward to catching up, whilst reflecting that I don't know what the Flickr equivalent to a tweetup is. 

#blog12daysxmas 2013 challenges

So 2012 is done and dusted. What technology challenges am I giving myself for 2013?  I have blogged elsewhere about my reading challenge targets - they might be p-books or they will often be e-books.  But what else?  Well, those of you who know me know that Flickr challenges are a constant in my life.

This year I have signed up for three specific Flickr challenges. The Flickr Friday Photo Challenge managed by my friends @ sarahgb in Wales and @csmramsden in Melbourne is a follow on from the 2012 challenge.  This is a themed photo challenge with three photos taken per week. I have enjoyed doing it in 2012 and it has been great to meet people all over who are doing this. Last year I undertook this challenge for the City of Boroondara Library Service and for Collingwood Historical Society in addition to my own personal commitment. This was quite a commitment but I loved it. Unfortunately the City of Boroondara Library Service has not continued this commitment but I will continue doing it for the Collingwood Historical Society along with colleagues in that group. If any of you are interested, please join us in the group.

My second group, Flickr 2013 PAD, is also a follow on from 2012 and from 2011 when we did Photo A Day. This is a group that @sarahgb managed but she has handed on the mantle to me manage this year! I hope I can meet the challenge! I have done a photo a day since 2011 and I must say it has become rather a way of life!  We have lots doing it this year so have a look and join us if you like.  This group started out amongst librarians in the UK with a couple of us from the antipodes but has broadened out a bit as time had gone by and now we are quite international.

My final Flickr challenge is a new one.  The Happy365 group established by @sirexkat asks us to post a photo a day about something that makes us feel happy.  There are a number of us doing both the 2013PAD and the Happy365 so there is some overlap.  But the Happy365 is an interesting one as it challenges us to take a happy photo. So far (in week one) it has been fascinating to see the scope of people's possibilities and to realize how many of those things make me happy too! Great kudos to Kathryn for coming up with this one!