Sunday 7 October 2012

Most popular pictures - top five of last 12 months

As promised here, these are my top five most viewed pictures over the last twelve months in Flickr. Three of the top five are from my wonderful time in Eritrea in 2010, two of which feature modernist/ bauhaus style structures as does the one photo from Israel that has made the top five. 

The most recent of the top five pictures is the view of New York skyscrapers from Central Park, taken earlier this year. It is interesting how some pictures garner many views very quickly (as with the New York shot), whilst others build slowly over time. The Eritrean pictures were picked up by other websites and on-line magazines with links back to my Flickr pages, which no doubt has contributed to their popularity, but they continue to receive regular views.

Bubbling under the top ten are photographs from more recent destinations including Bucharest, Istanbul and the London Olympics, whilst older shots from Armenia, Moscow (in 2008) and Israel still attract regular views. It will be interesting to see what makes next year's top ten! And so, my top five pictures...

Below, the fifth most popular picture in my Flickr photo stream shows an apartment building in Asmara, Eritrea. I like the central windowed tower that houses the staircase, as well as the attempts to "brighten it up" with red and green paint. The luminous advertisement is part of a government sponsored programme to promote contraception! This picture has been viewed 105 times during my first year on Flickr.

Eritrea by Yekkes

Below, the fourth most popular of my Flickr pictures. This beautiful Bauhaus building is located on Lilienblum in Tel Aviv. Probably my most favourite Bauhaus structure in my favourite city, it was once the home of iconic Israeli photographer Avraham Soskin. The architect was Zev Richter and the house was completed in 1933. 106 Flickr views to date.

Israel ישראל by Yekkes

Below at number three for my first year is a nice shot of some of New York's skyscrapers taken from Central Park. I love the Manhattan skyline and couldn't resist taking this picture through the gap in the trees whilst walking back to my hotel after visiting the Guggenheim Museum. This picture was picked up by a website that caters for skyscraper fanatics, which probably generated the majority of the 108 views it has received to date.

New York by Yekkes

Below, at number two with a magnificent 124 views, is an Eritrean petrol station! No prizes for guessing why I liked this structure with its modernist curves, deco referenced portholes and overall streamlined architectural approach. For a long time, this picture garnered more views than any of my other Flickr shots, probably because it was one of a number of my pictures used by a branch of the UN as part of a recruitment scheme. Thanks so much UN for not bothering to ask my permission! I don't mind at all, but its nice to be asked.

Eritrea by Yekkes

And finally the most viewed of my Flickr photostream pictures is the one below - the Medaber recycling market in Eritrea with a stunning (to me) 155 views - way ahead of anything else in my photosream. This building has a very long history beginning life as a caravanserai but nowadays is a place where Eritrean genius and entrepreneurship is exhibited. Almost anything is recycled here to make a variety of useful items including cutlery, luggage, water pots and carriers and just about anything else you can think of.  The main language of Eritrea is Tirgrinya which is a semitic language. It shares a number of words (or very similar words) with Hebrew, including Medaber. In Hebrew it means "speak", but I am told it is used in Tigrinya as the word for recycle - I can see a link of course!

Eritrea by Yekkes

To see more of my Flickr pictures including from Eritrea, Israel, New York, Russia, Fiji, Australia, Georgia and many other places, look here. Click on any of the above pictures to see a full sized page.

1 comment:

  1. Bella, Israel! I'm glad you like Asmara! And it's rather ironic that medeber is such a popular pic! It did made me laugh and warmed my heart, cheers!

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