After traveling around the world, 5 Questions comes home to San Francisco.

In this, the 15th edition, we ask our 5 Questions of Charlie Lumanlan, as suggested by nurul in our previous 5 Questions. Charlie has many fans and here are a few things that they’ve had to say:

“How to describe the work of Charlie? I would say a person creative, who have always emotion present in his shoot. A person who gives to photo his artistry sense with rare kindness and sincerity.” Shadows Oliv

“Charlie is not only a brilliant photographer but also a great guy. His photos are filled with emotions. It doesn’t matter if he’s taking them with digital or film cameras. They’re tools that help him to realise his ideas and projects.” tommaz

“Charlie’s photos are friendly, personal, intimate slices of daily life; they are unhurried yet effortless and show Life simply, the way it should be shown.” gabrielle hennessey

1. Charlie, 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?

Charlie: That is a pretty tough question, especially having 8 cameras and the list just keeps on growing. I might have to go with my Kiev 88. I’ll never stop loving medium format, and my russian tank always gets the job done. It might not be as popular as the Hassy, but it sure produces every I come up with in my head, exactly the way I want it to.

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

Charlie: This has to be my favourite from my work. It was a candid shot of my best friend Bean, but I managed to capture everything she loved in one shot. Her love for art (the graffiti), photography (her fm2) and her love for pigeons.

And from another Flickr member?

Charlie: And my favourite foto, if I had to pick one, would be this. A foto of my close friend Mika, taken by our friend Kit. I don’t even have any words to describe how I feel about this shot. It’s a shot I never get tired off seeing. If I could have one foto to keep me inspired from now till the end, it has to be this.

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

Charlie: Just keep shooting! forget how much film costs or forget the lack of free time. Just keep shooting. It’s the only way you can improve, by practicing and evolving. That’s how I got to where I am today, 6 years of non-stop shooting and evolving, and not a single art class taken. Well except Ceramics back in high school.

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

Charlie: Sunsets. I have several sunset shots in my stream, and no one can deny a beautiful sunset. There’s so many ways you can make a sunset shot look different than all the others.

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

Charlie: I’d have to go with my good friend Kit. There’s a lot of photographers out there who truly inspire me, but Kit inspires me day in and day out. She pushes me to the limit. I gave her the name Cool Kit cause she’s just the coolest. And I’m pretty sure she has some Wong Kar Wai DNA in her. You’ll see just how cinematic Hong Kong can be.

Heather: Charlie, thank you. Let’s go on a photo wander soon — it’s just a few weeks until the trees are blossoming in the Japanses Tea Garden.

We’ll be back soon with the next installment of 5 Question when we interview Kit.

Photos from chcharlie and Kit.

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, Fate, and Nurul.

Photography makes history. Today, the Smithsonian Institution added historic inauguration photos to the Commons on Flickr, including photos from several of the most recent US Presidential Inaugurations including President Clinton and President Bush Sr. These photos join a selection of historic photos from the 1913 Inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson, from the Bain News Service photo collection in the Library of Congress. See more Commons photos tagged “Inauguration”.

If you captured moments from this year’s inauguration or election, or have some from years’ past, please consider submitting a photo to be considered for click! photography changes everything, a Smithsonian Photography Initiative online program that explores how photography shapes the way we understand the world. The current call for entry, ‘History in the Making,’ looks at how photography has influenced the recent elections and inauguration.

Photos by Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution.

Join our group!

We’ve just launched Inauguration 2009, for people to share their photos (and video) taken of this memorable event!

Whether you’ve got a magic ticket to the Inauguration or are just planning to tune in for next Tuesday’s swearing in ceremony, we hope to build a public repository of photos for the world to see and share.

Going to DC for the Inauguration?

Please stop by our Flickr meetup on Tuesday next week to recharge, meet other Flickr folks, and upload your photos.

Photos by ekai and tony.eckersley

We’d like to welcome the National Galleries of Scotland to The Commons on Flickr today, joining with a diverse sampling from its collection. There are 7 sets showcasing 107 photos (to start) currently housed in galleries across Edinburgh: Scotland’s National Gallery, Portrait Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art and Photography Collection.

The release includes some photos of the landscape and architecture from around Scotland, such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, captures of historical moments, such as a visit from the Prince and Princess of Wales …As well as some “Great Scots” like the famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson, whose works include the widely know Treasure Island and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as well as the Skye Terrier, Greyfriars Bobby.

Enjoy! And a big thanks in advance to everyone who contributes tag, adds a note, or posts a comment for helping improve the data in the Galleries’ catalog!

The force is strong with these ones! You must check out Growing Up Star Wars: 1977-1985:

“With the creation of this group you now have permission to post that Polaroid of yourself as Princess Leia in 1977 (I’m talking to you, Bob) or that crayon portrait you did of the Death Star Droid that hung on your parent’s fridge for months in 1979 until someone spilled Kool-Aid on it. Even that great shot of your little brother meeting an off-model Darth Vader at some local in-store promotion in 1983.

Let your vintage Star Wars fan freak flag fly free!“

Photos from corelliancaptain, eyebrow_antics, and geneanddeanween.

A selection of avian photography from Your best shot of 2008 in Flickr Central.

Photos from Stefan’s Page, super.boone, *eSThER*, Nikon66, kvdl, Nat ;), and 4Dorks.

Our friends at the Library of Congress have published a new set of photos in their Commons account.

The 169 glorious and majestic views of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark in Photochrom Travel Views are part of a much larger collection that they will be sharing on Flickr as they move from the top of the world on down.

With a little searching, I found a “then” and “now” of the Bondhus Glacier (above) and Helsingborg (below). If you come across further examples, please share them in this Flickr Commons group topic.

Photos from The Library of Congress, ginacesilie, and Giåm.

Photos by hapoomoosh, kimberlywarne, The Inadvertent Gardener, and bradwenner.com. See more photos from last night tagged “oakland protests.”

Come to our party! We are hosting a Flickr member meetup in Washington DC on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009! We’ll be exhibiting photos from Election Night on Kodak frames, and also displaying photos taken on Inauguration Day.

We know its going to be insanely crowded around the National Mall, but please don’t let that stop you! If you are in the area, attending the Inauguration, or just want to come on down and watch the ceremony and parade in a warm and comfortable spot, we’d love to meet you. We’ll be taking over Frank’s SOVA coffeehouse in the Atlas District from Noon to 8 pm, and we’ll have nibbles and drinks and a few Flickr goodies. Visit our event listing for more details.

Photos by Rozanne_’, Jennings David L, wumpiewoo, and Brian Knight Photography.

The fine folks who’ve come together to create the Flickr Commons group on Flickr have launched a new blog: Indicommons.

“As you may have read in the discussion threads here, we have been working on an off-flickr place for some of the ideas and projects we would like to do with this group. Somewhere where we can showcase the cross-Commons Curation projects, post articles on more in-depth research and do features on some of the wonderful people involved in The Commons.” — Anna (BigBean)

Check out their interview with Shelley Bernstein, Chief of Technology, Brooklyn Museum. It’s the first in a series that will feature interviews with the various folk who make the Commons so wonderful.

Photos from the Brooklyn Museum.