Uncanny timing given the recent announcement. I’d started writing this post when I cancelled my membership a few days ago. I’m only publishing this now as today my membership expires. Comforting that should it become financially justifiable again I can get it back; albeit for a bit more.
I must have had close to ten years of pro membership (perhaps eight or nine? Actually Flickr told me just before I ran out: I;I’ve been a Pro member since December 2006) because I’ve been a member since May 2005. I’ve finally decided that I can no longer justify paying more for Flickr Pro (~£4.50 quarterly) than I get to spend on film: I’m still waiting to be able to develop the only four rolls of film I got to shoot last year and so far I haven’t shot or bought a single roll of film this year; I did invest last year in Film Ferrania and so in theory I will get two rolls of film which may or may not be delivered to me this year.
The best thing about Pro membership was that it meant no advertisements for anyone viewing my photos. Now I and anyone else looking will get horrible ads. When I do (I’m emphatically hopeful) get back into shooting film regularly I’m going to upload to my site first anyway and syndicate stuff out to Flickr, by that I mean I’m going to care less about the viewing experience on Flickr. The viewing experience on my site is much more basic, but at least fast and advertisement free. Should I generate enough photos I might even look into figuring out a Jekyll photo album plugin.