Awhile back there was a discussion on OlyBlog about photographs, namely that some people feel less inclined to submit content because they don't have pictures to accompany the articles. In order to rectify this situation I have created a stock photo pool on flickr to provide photos to accompany articles on OlyBlog.

If you have a camera and would like to add to the pool you need only join the group (and flicker) and start submitting your photographs to it. The group is public and the only stipulation for membership is that anyone creating content for OlyBlog automatically has permission to use any submitted photos with that content.

When submitting photos I cannot recommend highly enough the meticulous tagging of photographs with intuitively searchable terms (e.g. if a picture is of a business then add the name of the business as a tag as well as a more general term like "business"). Right now there is an extremely limited number of photos in the group but as it grows the ability to effectively search through it for a desired subject will determine the value of the database. For those interested in helping with this project but not in taking pictures you too can add tags to individual photographs thereby making the database more searchable as long as you sign up for a flickr account (which is free).

If you do use a photo please make sure you credit the photographer as well as provide a link back to the photo's source online. In my perfect world of creating benefit for everybody I'd like this photo pool to give local photographers exposure and publicity that would otherwise be lacking.

Please feel free to ask any questions and feedback is appreciated.