If you have visited the photo page lately you might’ve noticed that things look a tad different these days. The difference is that I’ve started using Flickr to host and manage my photos online instead of my own hosting server. I really liked hosting these images on the same server as with this site but storage space was starting to become a factor, not a cost factor but an organizational factor.

My hosting plan allows me to have an expanding allocation of storage as long as such use lies within their terms of use. A personal gallery is covered by such TOS so I was not breaking any agreement. However, given that I am on a shared server, I was never 100% certain that my content would be there the next day. I’ve worked on this field long enough to know that things can and will go wrong, it’s just a matter of time. I’ve never had a problem with my hosting company but as the size of my photo gallery began to increase, the backing-up process was also becoming more complex (to the point that I stopped backing up the images I posted on the site completely).

My decision to move my photos to Flickr was also based on how easy it is to upload and manage my photo with the web application. I can also easily share them with friends, family and the whole community if I choose to do so. On a technical aspect, I can still link my own site with my photos through the use of their public API. This programatic access was what eventually tilted my decision to use their services, since I was able to show the photos on my site while still having the benefits provided by their platform.

There are a few things that I still need to do with the photo section (add a cache feature) of the site but for the time being I am releasing it to the world. The latest photos are from Sarah’s birthday party which we celebrated last Friday (3 Jun). So, in case that you are looking to share some photos with friends and family, I will recommend you to evaluate a free account or let me know if you have any questions I might be able to answer.