Student Spotlight: Jorge Flores and Tumblr

Jorge Flores, Beginning Photography student recently sat down and shared his tumbr site full of his own photographs and other works that inspire him. That got us talking and some questions going. Tumblr makes photography curation very interesting and when viewed all together – the collection really shows the site owners personality. According to the tumblr about page “Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from your browser, phone, desktop, email or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors to your theme’s HTML.”

You can visit his Jorge’s tumblr site here and read his thoughts below: http://eljorgeflores.tumblr.com/

If I have “no idea” what tumblr is – how would you explain it?
Tumblr is a blogging website where users can share photos, videos, music, and other forms of media. Users have the ability to follow other blogs and reblog their posts. People who have tumblr mainly reblog other peoples images rather than posting original content. Some tumblrs are themed, others are sundry.

How do you use Tumblr (customization etc) ?
I feel I have my own place on the internet that is a gallery of my art and art that inspires me. It’s much more of a personal diary than most people would think, it’s hidden in there just enough so I can make sense of it. I also have the ability to design my own layout, as a result I take into account every aspect of the aesthetic of my tumblr including how images will look next to each other as well as playing with the transparency of certain posts. I have also made it possible to just view my own work or view certain tags. This can be accomplished by clicking the notes button that appears when you hover over any photo then clicking a tag (ex. “jorge flores”). This will bring you to a filtered page of only things that share that tag will appear.

What are some other tumblr sites you like and why?
http://angieshen.tumblr.com
Angie Shen is the curator of this blog, the blog has a good mix of her work and others work. She is currently a student at the College of Creative Studies at UCSB. Her artwork is always very intentional and she has an attention to detail while still enjoying minimalism.

I would also recommend
http://boundtothesea.tumblr.com

How has tumblr helped you explore photography different than other “tools” like flickr?
It hasn’t actually helped me discover many photographers but it has let me explore fashion photography in addition to many other visuals that inspire or make me feel something in a new way.

You put other photographer’s images on your tumblr site. Why? How do you deal with copyright issues?
I put other artists work on my tumblr because it is my way of showing followers what inspires me. I believe that most art is built off of other art. I make sure to give credit to any artist’s work I post, so I see it as a way to promote art I like as well. Like I said, I treat my page as my own personal gallery too.

Do you recommend every photographer have a tumblr site?
It really depends on what you hope to accomplish with your tumblr site. I realize that my tumblr is in no way an alternative to having a website or portfolio but for now it is what I can manage and I can only hope that someone will see my work and be inspired or promote it. I recommend anyone who is looking to find inspiration and who hopes to get their art out there have one.