Flickr has had its ups and downs over the years. It seemed like it would sit on the backburner of Yahoo forever. And, now, we see photographer-centric SmugMug buying up Flickr.
“Since day one our passion has been empowering photographers to tell the stories they want to tell, the way they want to tell them, and our investment in Flickr reaffirms this commitment,” said Don MacAskill, CEO of SmugMug. “Uniting the SmugMug and Flickr brands will make the whole photography community stronger and better connected. The enduring quality of photography is so much more than clicks and likes—photography has the power to change the world. Together, we can preserve photography as the global language of storytelling.” SmugMug says the two will continue to operate as separate entities after the deal closes.
I really only expect the best from SmugMug when it comes to photographers. I’ve been on both SmugMug and Flickr since 2006. And the Photography Bay Flickr group has amassed over 250,000 images since it started in 2008, thousands of which have appeared in our weekly Readers’ Roundup over the years.
While I loved both services, I’ve always known that SmugMug was putting photographers’ interests first and building a better product for photogaphers. Flickr has been in and out of love with photographers many times as Yahoo tried to figure out what to do with it. Now, I think/hope/pray that photographers will finally get the Flickr they deserve.
You can read more about the news here on SmugMug’s blog post.
