As 2008 turns to 2009 around the world, the Flickr Team would like to wish everyone a wonderful New Year- enjoy a few of the first scenes!

Photos by alexpenev, Girl Journalist and Young’s Photos.

Welcome to the 13th installment of 5 Questions. We’ve traveled far and wide in the last four months, hopping around the globe to ask the same five questions of our members.

In this edition we interview nurul, as suggested by Fate in our previous 5 Questions. Here’s what the Flickrverse has to say about her photography:

“poetry flows out effortlessly from her work and leaves one breathless. it has such a distinct flavour, atmosphere, sense of place and personality. it’s the smell of churned soil and electricity in the air. it’s lightness, humour and delicacy.” – cyan blue

“‘joi de vivre.’ sums up my impression of Nuruls work precisely and exactly the reason why I keep coming back to her photostream for more, her passion for life and energy is infectious and inspiring.” – Shaun Roberts

“Nurul is an amazing photographer and friend. Her work and the meanings behind her different pieces never cease to amaze and inspire me. She’s really quite a genius and a kind soul. I’m very glad to know her.” – quemino of the world

1. nurul, we know it’s a tough question, but if you had to pick just one camera to shoot with from now until the end of time, what would that be?

nurul: wow. yeah that IS a tough question. but hmm, i would say it’d be my nikon FM2. i just love how i see through that camera. it makes even the monochrome rainbows ever so stunning.

2. Another (possibly) tough question… Tell us your favourite photos on Flickr, and why you like them. First, a favourite from your photostream?

nurul: ahh! my personal favorite would be this shot. it was my first trip to barcelona and everything seemed so magical. and the rain made it more than magic.

And from another Flickr member?

nurul: my fav from another flickr member. well. i had one in mind but i thought i’d check out my favorites – but still ended up choosing this one in the end. shaun‘s captures always leaves me breathless for a bit. this one in particular.

3. What’s one tip that you would share with someone who’s just picking up a camera?

nurul: feel what you see. emote it. think it.

4. When we interview peeps for employment here at Team Flickr, we always ask: “Kittens, babies, sunsets or flowers? Pick one.”

nurul: oh no. pick one? how about none! although, if i really must, i’d say…babies.

5. Which Flickr member should we ask these 5 questions of next?

nurul: yes! i’d like to choose my buddy, charlie. he’s kick ass!

Heather: nurul, thank you. We’ll be back in the new year with the next installment of 5 Question when we interview Charlie.

Photos from NuruL. H., Shaun Roberts, pigneguy*michael, and chcharlie.

Previously, 5 Questions for Kevin Meredith, Steph Goralnick, Olivia Wright, Eric Lafforgue, Maciej Dakowicz, Swiatek Wojtkowiak, Bart Pogoda, Brett Walker, Susan Mac, Minas Papadopoulos, karton kutuda shot zımbırtısı, and Fate.

There’s still time to turn the balance of 2008 in the positive direction. You can make a donation to your favorite charity by participating in Yahoo! Cyber Giving Week — one last chance to do something good before year ends. Yahoo! partners with the excellent Network for Good to make donating to the charity of your choice as easy as possible. You can also give by sharing an image in the Cyber Giving Week Flickr group.

Photo by Curly-Q.

The Design Museum, Don’t Panic and Flickr launched the Your Design City project back in October. The final 20 photographs will be on display at the Design Museum in London between 6th – 11th January 2009.

There will also be an evening celebration in the exhibition space on Friday 9th January – if you’d like to drop by, check out Upcoming for more details and to rsvp.

Thanks to our judges, Deyan Sudjic, George Oates, Angus Hyland and Kevin Cummins, and everyone who contributed to the group.

Photos from [morado], dancingell, Fraser Smith (camera shake), and Skelly B.

striatic curates “Christmas across the Common“. It’s remarkable to see both, how much has changed and how much has remained the same through the years. I must confess that I was surprised to learn that Santa might prefer a cup of coffee rather than the time honoured cookies & milk (something to think about this Christmas Eve).

Photos from George Eastman House, State Library of New South Wales, Nationaal Archief, and The Library of Congress. View more photos from the Commons tagged with “christmas“.

It’s not too late to create and share a little holiday cheer!

If you forgot to send holiday cards this year and you are thinking about sending out some e-cards, hold on! You can use Picnik to “holiday-up” some of your own images to send to family and friends (we’ve featured a few such cards above). It’s quick and easy, but still personal (and sometimes silly) and we think, the next best thing to construction paper, crayons, glitter and glue!

Start by taking any image in your photostream that you think would be even more awesome with a santa hat, christmas tree, snow, or other decoration. Click edit photo above the image and go to the ‘Create’ tab. Then use Shapes, Text, and Effects to make your card. (hint: Snow is at the bottom of Effects).

When you save it, choose “Save a new copy” to make a new page for your card. You can then use “Share this” on the photo page to send the card off. If you want to make it even more personal you can make a card, then ‘edit photo’ again to add a name or personal message for different people and save different copies.

Photos from Mr Moor, Vol-au-Vent, grekei (away), and pixe_annie.

If you are like me, and you saw the perfect gift for your husband (plaid duct tape), but then neglected to order it until after it’d sold out, you’re probably scrambling to come up with Plan B. Let me suggest an idea … the Gift of Flickr!

Unlike that extremely covetable duct tape, you can buy as many Flickr pro gift codes as you like, whenever you like, because we will not run out and we guarantee same day delivery! Yay for digital gifts!

Also, you can still pick up a limited edition Flickrverse t-shirt over at Photojojo. They’ve kindly added a slew of shipping options to make it cheaper to order things to ship internationally (about $7-8 USD a shirt to Australia or France), as well as more flexible in case you need it shipped overnight (ahem!).

I’ve been following street artist, and active Flickr member C215′s work since a stencil of an enigmatic face showed up on my building one morning. A piece inspired by a photo he found on Flickr, according to a story in last Sunday’s UK Metro.

[Jon Cartwright's] rise to fame began in February when he posted on website Flickr a photo he took of himself smoking a cigarette. He then received a message from a Paris-based artist who calls himself C215. ‘This is a great picture of you. I will provide you soon or later a surprise,’ he wrote cryptically.

A person search, and a quick visit to Jon’s archives later, and I was able to find that original photo, “Hard Light”.

And the representation…

Congratulations to C215, and Jon Cartwright.

Photos from stephanemissier, Jon Cartwright, and C215

Photos from daliaspictures, Paper Dolls for Boys, and sakraft1.

Brenda Anderson ponders “How do we get from posting to to delivery?” in the new Flickr Commons Group. View the complete journey.

Photos from the Smithsonian Institution.