A selection of photos from the Your Best Shot 2013 group pool. To view more photos or share your own best shot, check out Your Best Shot 2013.

Photos from Duncan George, maxsaymilian, and skoeber.

 

A selection of photos from the Your Best Shot 2013 group pool. To view more photos or share your own best shot, check out Your Best Shot 2013.

Photos from KatGatti, senza studio, Amy Chu :), Mercédesz Barbara, Yu,Tsai, austens.

  

 

    

Our previous Flickr Friday theme was #CatchyColors, and here are some of our favorites from your submissions.

Colors were the hero of our theme, and you delivered by spotting the shades of the rainbow all around you. You dressed up in saturated pinks, blues, and yellows and showed us your striped socks. You shot confetti and soap bubbles, and you captured colorful highlights in architecture. You also took night shots of cityscapes and other places lit in beautiful saturated colors. There are many more themes you can discover in the Flickr Friday group pool. Thank you for all your contributions. Don’t forget to visit the discussion thread showcasing your favorites.

For our next theme, we want to focus on food, and were looking for something that would work for all of you around the world. So we chose #Noodles. You can take a photo of the noodles in your kitchen cabinet, take a glorious photo of your favorite type of pasta and make it the hero, or share a shot of a delicious bowl of Phở with rice noodles. Share your creation with us! Our favorites of the week will be showcased right here on the Flickr Blog.

Photos from jp.Chambard, Ms.Kimberly_B, Heinzelmän, Becky❤Sue, Thibaud Saintin, flow-to-graff, Tim Torner, Famoustache, Dondu.Small, NJ Lee, and Topiary Tree.

#FlickrFriday is a weekly photography project that challenges your creativity. For a chance to be featured on FlickrBlog, follow @flickr on Twitter & like us on Facebook and look for the weekly theme announcement every Friday. Browse the Flickr Friday category for more.

Nelson Mandela, the revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, passed away on December 5, 2013. Few men in the history of mankind have had more impact on a nation and inspired the world like the former president.

Shortly before he retreated from public life in 2011, Mandela participated in photographer Adrian Steirn’s 21 Icons project — a photographic and short-film series profiling the men and women who shaped modern South Africa.

“We were lucky enough to have incredible access to Nelson Mandela,” Adrian says. “He was shown the concept of the project about three years ago, and he really liked what he saw. He saw the photographs, a lot of these people were his friends. And it was something that, I think, he really wanted to be involved in.”

Adrian, one of Africa’s pre-eminent photographers and filmmakers, sat down with Madiba (as he’s affectionately called by South Africans) at his boyhood home in the nation’s Eastern Cape Province. His admiration for Mandela and what the statesman had achieved in uniting the people of South Africa post-democracy, inspired Adrian to create 21 Icons.

The photo shoot would become one of the last portrait-sittings with the former leader.

“We were very nervous,” Adrian recalls. “We had the lights set up, Madiba came down and he was so good natured, so good humored. He made the crew feel at ease, and I think that any nerves that we felt were gone. He could see that we were very emotional, and he helped us through the shoot, and it’s something obviously that I’ll be eternally grateful for.”

The concept of the portrait depicts Nelson Mandela’s face reflected in a mirror.

“The theme ‘reflection’ was all about looking at South Africa now, reflecting on where it had come from and the part that Nelson Mandela had played in that process,” Adrian explains.

Adrian described the photo shoot as both lighthearted and deeply emotional. One moment Adrian never forgot is when he showed Mandela several portraits from the project on his iPad. One in particular of F.W. de Klerk struck a cord with the former president.

“When Madiba saw de Klerk — who was the last apartheid president and released Nelson Mandela — he stopped and choked up,” Adrian remembers. “It was very emotional because Nelson Mandela is an old man, he doesn’t talk much, he conserves his energy… and for him to see a photo, for that to spark a memory and talk to the entire room — that’s really what kicked off the emotion for us.”

“It’s one thing to be sitting there with Nelson Mandela, talking and having a portrait-sitting with him,” Adrian adds. “It’s every photographer’s dream… but for him to address us in that deeply personable way and to give us insight into what he was going through during his periods in jail — it was unforgettable. I mean, I did look up at one point, and the entire crew was just crying… it was very emotional for us.”

When asked about Nelson Mandela’s legacy — the man who inspired his series — Adrian’s eyes lit up with emotion.

“I think the first thing he [Nelson Mandela] will tell you is that he’s a human being just like every single one of us, but what he’s come to symbolize for us is the best of humanity,” Adrian says. “He symbolizes forgiveness, he symbolizes a country’s future, he symbolizes all that is good. I feel that Madiba wants us to understand that there’s goodness in all of us. He’s the first thing to tell you: He’s human, he’s made mistakes. But, I think the one thing that he symbolizes for all of us is the goodness in humanity.”

Visit Adrian’s photostream and the 21 Icons project to see more of his photography. Also, check out the Nelson Mandela Tribute gallery, featuring photos of sculptures and other dedications in memory of Mandela.

**Update – A photographic portrait of the late Nelson Mandela has been bought by a private art collector in New York for $200,000, the highest price ever paid for a local portrait on Dec. 3.

The money will be donated to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, currently under construction in Johannesburg, and to the World Wildlife Fund. The construction of a children’s hospital has been a long-held dream of Mandela’s, and before he fell ill, he had campaigned for funds for its construction. The state-of-the-art hospital is scheduled to open late in 2014 and will be a 200-bed facility providing world-class pediatric care.

Do you want to be featured on The Weekly Flickr? We are looking for your photos that amaze, excite, delight and inspire. Share them with us in the The Weekly Flickr Group, or tweet us at @TheWeeklyFlickr.

  

Today marks the last day of Hanukkah 2013. We want to wish those of you celebrating a Gmar chatimah tovah and hope you had a wonderful festival of lights.

Photos from tedeytan, lemonyellowsky, JoséDay, and Cora’s Pictures.

A selection of photos from the Your Best Shot 2013 group pool. To view more photos or share your own best shot, check out Your Best Shot 2013.

Photos from Jimbob2312, Suite Pee, and Tetsuhiro Kikuchi.

 

 

 

When we talk about a certain moment in time, fashion is always a good reference. Clothes, colors and music are the icons and the most prominent part of the 1980s wave.

Get a full view of your submissions and enjoy sharing them. Follow us on Twitter to see the next challenge directly in your feed. We will be back next Tuesday with the new #TwitterTuesday theme.

Photos from Kelson Vibber, Bill Dickinson, Chetan Karkhanis, Chrissy Wainwright, Chantal Nederstigt, Hernán Castro, Elödie Le Gall, and Ephraim Muller.

Outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world endure chilly environments to capture tranquil landscapes of striking beauty. Here’s a recently uploaded sample of the impressive pictures they have to offer, led by “oceans of clouds” seen in Vorarlberg, Austria and frost-mummified trees in Loire, France.

Explore, and share, more photography in the Snowy Scenery gallery and Winter Landscapes group.

Photos from diamir8000, têteenlair, Fjällkantsbon, Péef, alanach, Aubrey Stoll, Luigi Alesi, Clickpix, MITCH2388, and pbruch.

A contribution from Sarah Ann Loreth. Sarah is a fine art photographer from New Hampshire, who specializes in self-portraiture, conceptual portraiture, and fashion. To find out more about her work, visit her photostream and check out her website.

David Talley is an up and coming fine art photographer out of Southern California who was recently given the opportunity to fly to Uganda to use his talent to give a visual to orphanages. Here is his story.

Tell me a bit about yourself.

I’m a 20 year old fine art and portrait photographer, aspiring cinematographer, and avid beard-wearer residing in the foothills of Southern California. I like hiking, traveling, creating, camping, and cooking.

I work as a freelance photographer worldwide. Whether I’m in the 100-foot-tall forests of Maryland shooting a new fine art piece, in the slums of Uganda shooting portraits of widows for non-profit organizations, or in my own backyard shooting your senior photos or wedding, I bring all of my energy and love for photography and life with me.

I hope that with my work, consisting of everything from beautiful portraits, to the emotions and stories surround romance, mystery, and adventure, I am able to reach generations of all ages and inspire them in any way I can – be it to pursue the passion they love, stay positive, or just inspire with beautiful imagery.

 

How did you hear about the project in Uganda?

My dad has been to the region twice this past year for some missionary work, and through him, my imagery was shown to the founder of the organization. I flew over to the region in late September to do some work with Wando International, a new non-profit organization based in Uganda which helps to empower widows and orphans to escape extreme poverty. Within a few months’ time, I was packing my bags and heading off to do some promotional imagery and develop the visual style of Wando’s brand through my photography.

What was your experience like in Africa?

I spent much of my time in Uganda organizing and directing shoots, and photographing all over the city of Jinja and its surrounding cities and villages. We stayed at an orphanage, and I came to know about 10 of the cutest little babies you’ll ever see in your entire life. I also had the chance to speak with many of the people who help run the orphanage, exchanging words while rain, thunder, lightning, rainbows, and sunshine all filled the sky outside. I was given a much deeper perspective of the other side of the world through my trip – although my main goal was to create spectacular images, I came home with a heavy heart for the decrepit status of the region. It’s a different world over there, and I hope that what I’m doing by working with this organization will be a small part of the small steps being taken to help the region grow.

Overall, the trip was just incredibly perspective changing. Everything – the way they view death, how they treat each other, how I was treated, the conditions in which they live, their faith, everything. The good showed me as much as the bad, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to have gone.

What is a specific memory you would like to share?

So I got a stomach bug in Africa – worst thing ever, right? Yeah, that’s exactly right. I started feeling funky early in the morning, driving around town, but dismissed it and attributed my stomach gurgles to the bumpiness of the dirt roads we’d been driving on all week. Knowing that I had an assignment to shoot later that day, I decided to lay down and try to get my stomach back in tip top shape. Two hours later, I had buried my head in the porcelain bowl at the orphanage. I was told I could shoot the assignment the next day, but because we had about 40 women together to photograph at a small party for the organization, I wanted to seize the opportunity while the women were all together. I geared up and we headed out to the location where I’d be shooting, a school located in the center of a village. I felt much better, but to play it safe, I waited in the car until the women were ready to shoot. I set off down the dirt road in the village with the women behind me and about 2 dozen village-kids surrounding me, laughing at me, jumping on me, and wanting to look at my camera. And then it hit me… again. I doubled over, dropped to my knees, and let go right off the dirt path, with kids watching all around me. Everyone in the village stared, and the women, who were now behind me, were so entirely astonished. I wiped my mouth and eyes, stood up, and asked them (with the biggest smile I could muster) if they were ready to shoot. They just stared, wide eyed. It was perfectly hilarious.

Do you have any upcoming projects?

As far as projects go, I’m off to Chicago to begin my first round of workshops as a teacher! It’s so exciting, and honestly a little nerve-wracking to be looked up to in such a way that people are paying me to learn how I do what I do. It’s incredibly humbling, and I couldn’t be more excited to embark upon this portion of my life. I’ll be hosting two workshops during my time in Chicago. I come home for Thanksgiving this month, and then in early December, I’m off to Texas for a week of client shooting! I’m extremely passionate about travel, and I’m excited to begin my journey as a worldwide photographer.

David, thanks for interview!

This post was written by a guest contributor to Flickr Blog. Please see their details in the post above. If you would also like to become a contributing author, tell us your story, and provide some examples of previous pieces (if you have them) and content you would like to cover.

 

A selection of photos from the Your Best Shot 2013 group pool. To view more photos or share your own best shot, check out Your Best Shot 2013.

Photos from BasuMitra, julien.cornette, AnZanov, martinturner.