From Hong Kong, we travel southward to Melbourne for our next installment of 5 Questions. Please welcome memetic (aka Chris), selected by Kit our previous interview.

Here’s what the Flickrverse has to say about Chris and his photography:

“Memetic’s devotion to film and medium format continues to inspire me. His film sensibilities and viewpoints are understated yet beguiling; he brings life and shimmering creativity to even the seemingly most mundane of subjects.” — hurtingbombz

“Above all, Chris is a mate. He stops, thinks and considers. And one sees this in both his work, but in how we react to it – it invites us to pause, reflect and reconsider.” — theurbannexus

“Memetic’s stream is one of my favourites here on Flickr and I have been following his work since I started taking pictures of my own. His photos, in particular those taken by his pentacon six, are extremely addictive, and I find myself revisiting them over and over again.” — AAGCTT

1. Chris, 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?

Chris: Although I have several cameras, people that know me probably already know that isn’t a tough question! I somewhat agree with the popular theory that “gear” matters, but I also believe that the cost/prestige of the camera is ultimately irrelevant. More importantly, there is a camera out there for everyone that is suited to help them achieve their vision; and that camera could be a Leica or a $20 Olympus Trip 35. For me, my favourite turned out to be a Pentacon Six TL, which is possibly the most basic medium format SLR around. It’s highly unreliable, breaks easily if you treat it wrong, very slow to use and weighs a ton but, for me, it creates the magic I want – so then nothing else matters.

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

Chris: What I like about photography is that it can dissect a split-second of a moment in the world where, even at its most mundane, that frozen moment can have a life of its own. “l’esprit de l’escalier” was a single click of the camera at the scene (I don’t often take a second shot)… I went there, clicked the button, then left. But now when I look at that moment, I still love how things came together in that one eighth of a second.

And from another Flickr member?

Chris: There are many thousands of amazing photos on here that this is definitely the hardest question. I couldn’t possibly pick just one. Recently I came across a photographer in southern China who goes by the Flickr name ☜ Yanming ☞ and his photos just blow me away. His surrealist vision of humanity and life in China is really quite inspiring, so his stream as a whole really stands out in my mind. “Wind flower” is just one great example.

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

Chris: Just shoot and shoot. I didn’t really improve my photography much until I signed up for the first exhibition of the Melbourne Silver Mine. I didn’t have any material for it then so I just kept shooting whenever I could. It was during that period, through the patterns of many pictures, I could find what it was that I wanted to shoot.

And become familiar with cameras. Don’t just use them for a bit and then change – persevere and really get to know them and don’t be afraid to get them dirty and push them to do things you want. Shoot in the rain.

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

Chris: I do admit to having a couple of cat pics in my stream but I think I would have allergic reactions to most of those categories. To pick one, it would have to be sunsets as I like what they can represent. A sunset isn’t just one of the most magical times of the day – it’s an ending. Just like you saw the last page of a novel you begin to wonder about the rest of the story before and after. Nostalgia and the beauty of transformation is something I like to explore.

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

Chris: Another tough question, but Velco is one photographer who consistently produces magic on here and has been a big source of inspiration when I was starting to get into photography and still is. His photography is very diverse but always shows a strong insightful vision.

Heather: Chris, thank you. We’ll be back soon with the next installment of 5 Question when we interview Velco.

Photos from memetic, ☜ Yanming ☞ and Velco.

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, Nurul, Charlie Lumanlan, and Kit.

The Library of Congress has released a number of fascinating pictures of one of America’s best known presidents. The set, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), is part of a series of photos released by the Library, and others, in the Flickr Commons, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of President Lincoln’s birth on February 12, 1809.

President Lincoln is without doubt one of the most well-recognized figures in American history. But in reality we really only know what he looked like from only a handful of images: a photo in a grade-school history text, a visit to the Lincoln Memorial, or the iconic image of him on the five dollar bill.

But really, photography figured prominently in President Lincoln’s life and happily many of those pictures have been preserved by the Library and other institutions. Most of these portraits have rarely been seen by a wide audience, and they offer a glimpse into a fuller portrait of the man we know as ‘Honest Abe’, who lived in a log cabin, steered the country through Civil War, and ended slavery. Beyond the iconic image on the currency, what these pictures reveal about President Lincoln is quite wonderful, down to the emergence of his beard and changing haircuts, as he evolved from a young Senator to America’s 16th President.

Photos by the Library of Congress.

Visit the Library’s blog for more information.

“Over the weekend we broke the Hundred Million geotagged photos, actually 100,868,302 at last count, mark. If we remember that we passed the 3 billion photos recently and round the figure down a little that means (does calculations on fingers) that around 3.333% of photos have geo data, or one in every 30 photos that get uploaded…”

Read the entire post over at code.flickr.

Bryan Campen sent FlickrMail to let me know that Joe Ades, aka the gentleman carrot peeler, who we featured on FlickrBlog a couple of years ago, has passed away:

“The city lost one its quintessential characters Sunday when the enigmatic Joe Ades died after decades spent selling his $5 vegetable peelers at the Union Square Greenmarket, and other locations around town. Ades, born in Manchester, England, was an unavoidable and entertaining presence at Union Square, and eventually became something of a media darling for his loud, hypnotic patter; his distinctive suits; and his incongruous Park Avenue address.”

Photos from killthebird, photodrifting, and sgoralnick.
View more photos of Joe Ades on Flickr.

Photos from Dave Gorman, the big bambooly, pebaline, Balakov, and THE BUSK.

Ever found yourself leafing through a magazine or a book and wanting to leave comments on the photos? Or thought about suggesting a better crop while wandering around an art gallery :) Well the Flickr In The Real World – Instant Fave! group scratches at least one Flickr itch by faving things with handy dandy cards and stickers.

Now all I want is a tag search for my door keys.

Photos from theOtherdrBen, TPorter2006, metró and nataliej.

I will totally expose myself as being out of sync with the majority my adopted country today, but I have to ask. What’s with all the 3D glasses?

Photos from somethingmarissa, {Millie}, and tclarkcreations.
View more photos tagged with “superbowl“.