Since my blog posts will be focused on ideas that I have tried, DIY projects I’ve either developed or done, etc. I will often have all the photos I need in my own library. If not, I am ready, willing and able to take my own. I am a decent–good photographer and use a digital SLR Nikon, with a couple of lenses. With that in mind, I do realize there will be the occasional need for an image I can’t shoot myself. In those cases, Flickr Creative Commons will prove to be a valuable resource.
I’ve been playing with my website a lot this weekend. I created a blog post that fits under my Green Garden category using photos I had on hand. It’s timely and I’ve already shared it with friends to see how the comments section works. It was so cool to get an email from WordPress letting me know I had one waiting for approval.
I’ve been agonizing over what to put on both my HOME and ABOUT pages. I didn’t want a blog post to be the first thing people see. I wrote up some text and figured out ways to illustrate it. For the Home page, I used the logo I had designed (in anticipation) last semester. Then I created a single image in Photoshop combining four photos that illustrated my four categories, along with some descriptive text.
The About page was a little tricker. I wanted it to be about me and my philosophy of imperfect sustainable living. I had a decent head shot to use for now; I wanted one more photo to balance the page, but couldn’t find the right thing in my own library. That’s when I turned to Flickr and found a plethora of usable images in Creative Commons. I settled on this lovely shot by Judge Rock. It allowed for attributable use, and could be altered; I did crop it. It added some nice color to the page, and showed readers what a painted bunting looked like (it’s not a common bird). I’ll definitely check out Flickr more often when I need a generic shot.
