Pulled in too many directions -- (Is Flickr a full-time job?)

(View larger on black).

If you enjoy photography and Flickr, is it like having another full-time job? Well, let's see...there is:

(1) the actual photography (taking the pictures) -- for every one I post here, I may take 1000
(2) organizing image files, backing them up and deciding which ones to work on and post
(3) image processing, a favourite stage, but time-consuming because: I'm a perfectionist with far-from-perfect processing skills, and I have to compensate at this stage for not having a great camera and for not not being the best shooter back at (1)
(4) writing, preparing & posting... I don't like to just toss a photo up here; it has to have the right title, description, tags, etc; it has to go to the right sets and groups; it must be the right size, with a "view larger on black" link; and sometimes I even do "concept" pictures, where the writing is as important as the photo itself -- um, for example, this one.
(5) visiting contacts, which I enjoy very much, but it's getting hard to keep track and find time, so even "good contacts" fall through the cracks sometimes
(6) commenting within groups you post in -- not always needed, or sometimes just a few comments & faves, or you could "work" a group, visiting many photos, with the idea that some will reciprocate
(7) returning the visits of those who fave and/or comment on your photo -- essential for friends, highly desirable for all contacts, and good to do even for non-contacts, and
(8) juggling some assortment of (1) through (7) for various photos at different stages, resulting (hopefully) in a post per day, and some measure of success

A sure sign of Flickr addiction is that I enjoy all of the above phases -- some more than others, of course. That is all fine; it is fun to have fun, but it is easy to see how this can turn into a full-time job. And it's great when you love a job, but there are several critical problems here:

(1) nobody is paying me to do this job (I keep looking for the Flickr-cheque in the mail but it never seems to arrive)
(2) I already have a full-time job, which I must do
(3) there are other things in life that deserve time, too: family, a house to maintain, and so on... it's even pleasant to sleep once in a while.

I don't have a team of servants to help me do all of this -- not the last time I checked, anyway. And I have yet to find the right balance in all of this, for me. Have you found it, for you? There's no requirement to answer here... I have no objections if comments/faves are aimed squarely at the photo itself. :-)
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Taken in: Canada / Ontario / Toronto / Leslieville (show map)

Taken on: June 19, 2009

Tags:

fave25

blue

gull

seagull

fly

turn

square

1x1

Canon

Powershot

A570 IS

Explore

four

quadruple

avian

flight

Explore #297

Now and Here

David Farrant

fave10

fave50

A570

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Sets appears in: • Interestingness • most faved more » • random • minimal or abstract • birds, beasts & bugs • Toronto - Beaches, East York, etc. • blue • camera: Canon Powershot A570 IS • Top 100 • All my photos by date taken « less

Groups appears in: • ...-Wink's Place-...

Camera: Canon PowerShot A570 IS, f/5.5, 1/800 sec, 23.2mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot A570 IS
Aperture:	f/5.5
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length:	23.2mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	-1/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Show full info

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