photo credit: neftos

In Love With Lisbon’s Flickr Group has now hit 100 photo’s. I became a member of Flickr when I came back from my first trip to Lisbon last May and have been a fan ever since. If you have never investigated Flickr I highly recommend it. It has been a source of inspiration to me both for this website and also for other pursuits such as writing and music. As well as being able to flick through other people’s holiday snaps, there are some stunning images captured by talented amateur photographers as well as professional ones. There are millions of photo’s to see covering all aspects of life. People, animals, places, cute puppies, a thousands sunsets, hidden places, the weird and wacky, arty mysteries and so it goes on. There are groups dedicated to the colour blue, haunting photographs, black and white, sepia, food, trees, hearts and again – so it goes on. If you have any kind of creative inclinations you can while away a good few hours. If you are a photographer the community discussions and notes on photo’s can give you some excellent tips.

photo credit: Filipe Dâmaso Saraiva

In Love With Lisbon Flickr group was born last August, a few weeks after the site went live. Like it’s mother ship, the group has steadily been growing. The aim of the group was to show images that “capture the heart of Portugal’s beautiful capital city”. There was already a wonderful group called Illustrar Portugal and groups for other specific places in Portugal as well as an already thriving Portuguese run Lisbon group called Amar Lisboa (Loving Lisbon -of course I rather like that title!).

I have been spending more quality time on Flickr in order to build the ILWL group and it is wonderful to make new connections and see how others see Lisbon. Looking through all the images already submitted to the pool is like dipping into a warm sunny afternoon in the beautiful city.  It makes me smile, makes me feel nostalgic, makes me sense the ever present saudade.

I love how different people notice different things: the dogs lying on the mosaic pavement, a couple dancing in the street, a rainbow over the castle, azulejos galore, graffiti, buskers, famous faces, quiet shadows, places that seem like they were just waiting to be discovered, steps in Alfama, modern sculpture. Like Lisbon itself, the group has so much to see and to say.

photo credit: starrynight1

I want to say a personal thankyou to everyone who has submitted so far to the group and to those who have also chosen to become members. Do look us up if you are a member of Flickr, and if you’re not a member why not come and join us? Whilst some of us choose to pay for a subscription, anyone can set up a free account and can use it to upload their photo’s to share with the world. Of course if you have some photo’s of Lisbon please submit them to the In Love With Lisbon pool! Now that I have celebrated the first milestone of 100 photo’s I’m looking forward to our next milestone – set at 1000 photo’s. Let’s see how quickly we can hit this target!

In true community spirit here are a list of other groups relating to Portugal that I really like. I’m sure you are going to love what you see.

In Love With Lisbon

Portuguese Food and Drink (another group I also started)

Amar Lisboa

Ilustrar Portugal

Postais Ilustrados de Portugal Huge long running group with thousands of images

Lisboa

Lisboa na Rua

Azulejos de Portugal If you love Portuguese tile then this is for you

Alfama

Portugal Unlimited

Wishing you love, light and happiness for 2008

Feliz Ano Novo!

Many thanks to The Digerati Life for their kind comments.