Does Flickr imagery transcend the culture of the place it was taken? Does it have universal appeal?

As an editor for the Flickr Collection, I’ve looked at thousands of images on Flickr, and whenever I come across Japanese imagery, I find it distinctively Japanese. I’ve posted some examples below:

85176930 © Stephan Wilms/Flickr

85269903, Masato Ninomiya/Getty Images

85154506, detch/Flickr

85151272, © 2007 Jon Climpson/Flickr

Is it culture? Is it country? Is it aesthetic? What is it exactly that makes these feel so familiar to me?

Japan is a country of Zen, Karaoke, Samurai, Harajuku girls, Wii, cup noodles, sushi and the list goes on and on. It’s a country of all things in the mix.

For those who have seen the film, “Lost in Translation” by Sophie Coppola, you might have wondered the same thing as I have. Is it western? Is it Japanese? Or is it the mix of both that makes the film universal?

What are your thoughts? We would love to hear what you think of the Japanese imagery we have so far in the Flickr collection!

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Vict?ria Pe?afiel/Flickr

I can’t help but notice that the Flickr partnership is turning up a very different type of imagery from what we normally edit.

They’re not all “slice of life” pictures either — there’s some really considered, crafted work from hugely talented photographers. What I get a kick out of is the tiny details of people’s lives – the little moments that say or reveal a lot, which are local but universal.

The shot above from a photographer in Barcelona is a great example – you have all the intimacy of family life, care and protection, animal instinct – maybe also competition! It’s shot through (excuse the  pun) with humor and warmth. This is true of a lot of Flickr imagery and is amazingly hard to recreate.

Images like this also have a general appeal, despite (or maybe because?) they’re intensely individual.  Like a lot of the Flickr stuff I love, if you read a description of the shot you’d struggle to visualize it – but it works.

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