Have you heard of schmap.com?

Schmap’s series of digital travel guides integrates dynamic maps with useful background reading, suggested tours, photos from the traveling public and reviews by local correspondents (for sights and attractions, hotels, restaurants, bars, parks, theaters, galleries, museums and more) to profile 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
from the Schmap website

You can browse a destination online or download a Schmap Guide to your computer.

Plan your holiday with Schmap

I have to admit I hadn’t heard about Schmap until I received an email from the Editor saying one of my Flickr photos had been short-listed for the 4th edition. How exciting, I thought!

So, I checked out Schmap and was completely absorbed (it was also very timely as I was planning a short trip to Hobart, Tasmania). Simply pick a destination and browse interactive maps, suggestions of where to stay, what to see and do, as well as historical and local information about the area.

Did I get Schmapped?

I impatiently waited for two weeks for the final verdict and I’m happy to say that my photo has been included. The photo was taken at the Sacher Hotel in Vienna and is a macro shot of a Sacher Wurfel – like a mini Sachertorte. My photo appears in the slideshow on this Schmap page.

Schmap doesn’t offer payment for use of photographs but you are acknowledged as the photographer. It’s quite an enterprising way to present information, pulled from various sources, into an interactive travel guide mash-up. And the wide variety of photos on Flickr make for an interesting travel slideshow.

Does this mean that I can call myself a published photographer :)

Have any of your Flickr photos been Schmapped?

Related posts:

• Flickr is the key to my social photography
• My Flickr collection is now organised
• Edit your photos in Flickr

Organise your Flickr collection before it gets outta control!

Motivated by a post over at Epic Edits Weblog, I decided to re-organise my Flickr photos. As with most Flickr fans, I only had sets arranged down the sidebar and had not delved into the collections (groups of sets) option. Collections allow you to group many sets into a few (or, if you wish, many) broader categories.

And I seem to have a lot of sets! Some sets have a large number of images and some are a more specific topic and contain only a few. Collections are a very efficient way to order your photos and you can add a set to more than one collection. I also like the mosaic that is generated for each collection’s thumbnail.

Getting the flick

During this process, I was able to look more critically at some of my earlier Flickr snaps and realise they had been madly, or prematurely, uploaded when I caught that contagious bug called Flickritis. So…some got the flick.

Now I feel much more organised.

My current collections

• Macro shots – 4 sets
• In Nature – 5 sets
• The Built Environment – 3 sets
• Food! – 3 sets
• Animals (mostly cats) – 4 sets
• B&W and Sepia – 2 sets
• Vintage camera – 2 sets
• Night images – 3 sets
• Colours – 3 sets
• Miscellaneous – 5 sets (includes “Made it to Epic Edits” weekly photodump…the suspense that one causes!)

I’m sure these will be refined over time. It’s really a never-ending process.

Are you ready to get organised?

I have 147 photos on Flickr which isn’t a lot compared to many other users. It still took me a while to sort my collections. My tip would be to get organised before your collection gets too big.

I also made sure to create the number of collections that would fit on the sidebar without having to use the “More” option.

How do you mange all your Flickr photos? Is it a practical and efficient process or perhaps a bit more haphazard? Let me know in the comments.

Related posts:

• Flickr is the key to my social photography
• Have any of your Flickr photos been Schmapped?
• Edit your photos in Flickr