Hello, India! Welcome to the Flickr party

Flickr is all set to hold a series of offline get-togethers in India, while a few from the community who have got wind of it, are speculating what the events are going to be about. Following a tradition of hosting similar meet-ups across the world, Flickr, having been around for six years now, has come to India for the first time.

Flickr, which had launched its services in seven regional languages in mid-2007, had India as its most recent addition last December. This is what Flickr-created group ‘Hello India’ wants to celebrate by hosting free events in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai this month. “Photography is growing at a rapid pace in India, especially due to the rise in camera-enabled cell phones. At Flickr alone, we have seen a significant growth in photo and video activity on the site as indicated by the over two million Indian users as per comScore,” says David Fusco, International project manager, Flickr.

Anyone can join the Hello India group and add to the pool one image that says what India means to them. The three events will celebrate India, by showcasing at the venues, each pooled image of the country as seen through the eyes of Indians and India lovers. As of Sunday, the group had 1,652 members who had contributed 769 images.

Given the sizeable growing Indian Flickr community, Fusco will fly down to India this month and will be part of the Mumbai event scheduled for April 23. The idea is awareness, networking, and most importantly user feedback. Given the sketchy details on the

Hello India page, contributors are hoping that sort of exchange becomes possible. “Flickr is no doubt growing in terms of numbers,” says professional photographer, Peevee, and moderator of the Bangalore Weekend Photography group on Flickr, whose picture is one among the pool. “But in terms of their look and technical aspects it hasn’t changed very much. I pay $25 for a pro account every year, but what they offered me four years ago is what I get today. So, my frequency of using it has gone down.” Given the number of copyright violations that Flickr users face, security is also an issue that participants like Bhaskar Dutta, would like to share. “They should put watermark on images that carry all rights reserved and share alike licences,” he says.

Visibility is another issue, he says. And he isn’t the only one saying it. “I don’t worry about copyright violations; I am from the school of thought that any visibility is good visibility,” says freelance photographer, Akshay Mahajan, adding that most pros now prefer Facebook to Flickr to be really seen.

Flickr serves them better as a hosting site that they can link to their blogs. “It’s much easier to have your image seen by a lot of people on Facebook. On Flickr, you get noticed if you join many groups or tag your pictures right. I’d like to ask them to incorporate some of the features of Facebook,” says Dutta.

To contribute a picture or for more information, visit http://www.flickr.com/groups/helloindia/