by Bobby Coles

Created on: August 03, 2009   Last Updated: May 04, 2012

Flickr is fast becoming a major player in the world wide web domain, and its impact on collaborative photojournalism has been remarkable. Flickr allows users to post all of the pictures that they want on their site, and then these photos are made available to the public if the issuer allows them to be used in such a way.

Flickr gives the person that posted the pictures a say as to who may view the pictures and use them for their own personal gain. If a user wishes for their photos only to be made available to their friends and family to view, then that wish is respected. If the user merely posts the pictures and allows for the general public to view them, then

collaborative photojournalists are able to augment their stories with supplemental pictures of events that they are covering.

Collaborative photojournalism is the process by which more than one photojournalist will contribute to a published piece, forging the story together more intricately. In today's camera happy digital photograph society, there is a great chance that somebody somewhere has captured on film a remarkable rescue or a candid shot of just about anything. By collaborating with other photojournalists, stories are better able to be reconstructed, considering the fact that there is now so much raw footage available of any given subject matter.

The Flickr appeal is that it is not just photojournalists that are using the site, but the collective whole of the country as well. As the site grows, people will have a greater availability of photos to use for their desktops, presentations, assignments, vacation planning, and news stories, to name some of the more popular choices.

Collaborative photojournalism was already a nice way for journalists to complement their stories, by availing the photographic skills of others within the field, but now with Flickr, they are able to use photos taken from amateurs across the world. This gives the photojournalist an unlimited supply of ammunition when preparing their assignments. Sometimes a photojournalist just is unable to get the proper shot of a subject or a scene, but with a site such as Flickr, they are able to be privy to photographs that were taken at the precise moment to give the picture more of a visual impact.

A great example would be a crime scene, where the areas are not available to the public once the police arrive on the scene and set up blockades. Moments before this happens, anybody with a cell phone or a camera may have snapped a plethora of pictures that are up close and personal.

The world of journalism as a whole has been turned on its collective ear, and with sites such as Flickr, collaborative photojournalism has been given a welcomed face-lift. Many photojournalists will now be able to save valuable time, money, and resources, while still delivering the optimum picture to accompany their story. This impact is wide reaching, and there is no end in sight as to how far collaborative photojournalism can grow.

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