it really bugs me that i have come to care about the elusive and mysterious "explore" feature on flickr. it's the top 500 photos of the day on flickr, according to some unknown and possibly ever-changing criteria. just a short month ago, i kinda knew about it kinda peripherally. a few of my pictures of the house and my famous robot shot had "gone explore," but i didn't really think about how or why. it was just a happy mystery to me.
but along came our blog camp 365 flickr group and suddenly, explore was everywhere! there are lots of good pictures in the group and with lots of constructive criticism in the form of comments and favorites, suddenly explore became that much more real. for me and for the group as a whole. and so i've started to care about whether my pictures "go explore." and in some ways, i wish i didn't. because it seems a bit insidious, like the whole messianic follower thing on blogs and twitter, and perhaps a tad unhealthy to obsess about it. but still, i can't help but be happy that both of my photos for february thus far have gone to explore - the rainbow monocule© above and this martini glass of yellow randomness. it does for some strange reason reassure me that my photo mojo has returned and i'm improving. tho' it probably doesn't actually mean anything in the big scheme of things.
flickr has done a good job of creating a mystique around it. so rumors abound as to what the algorithms contain. if you want to read some of those rumors, check here, and here. and here's some advice on how to get your pictures there. and now i'm off to stage my next potential explore shot...i wonder if the cat will hold still....
