From Flickr to Print

Featured in Open Road’s Best of Paris (2007)

May 1, 2005 — Sacré-Cœur, Montmartre, Paris

Back in 2007, Flickr felt a little like the Wild West for photographers. People actually discovered your work organically, and sometimes opportunities appeared in your inbox out of nowhere.

One day, I received a FlickrMail from Open Road Publishing asking if they could use one of my photographs — an image of Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre — for an upcoming travel guide about Paris.

“May we have your permission to use one of your great photos — the Sacre-Couer — for our forthcoming travel guide, OPEN ROAD'S BEST OF PARIS — we of course will give you and Flickr full credit for the use of the image.”
— Open Road Publishing, via FlickrMail (2007)

The photograph had been taken two years earlier during a trip to France in May 2005. At the time, I already loved photography, but Paris felt almost impossible not to photograph. The changing light, side streets, cafés, architecture, and constant movement made the entire city feel cinematic.

I captured the image using my very first digital camera: a tiny Canon S400 point-and-shoot.

My reply to the publisher was probably the most 2007 response imaginable:

“If published will you send me a free copy of the book?”

Thankfully, they said yes.

A few months later, my photograph appeared in Open Road’s Best of Paris, a practical travel guide filled with hotel recommendations, neighbourhood advice, maps, and tips for travellers trying to make the most of limited vacation time in Paris and the surrounding areas.

Seeing one of my photographs published in print for the first time felt surreal. I had printed photos before for albums and scrapbooks — including a Paris scrapbook from that same trip — but this felt entirely different. For the first time, it felt like maybe the way I saw the world connected with other people too.

Part of why the experience stayed with me is that the image wasn’t created with expensive equipment or a highly technical setup. It came from walking, exploring, noticing the light, and being present in a moment.

Even with a tiny early digital camera, the image held up — a reminder that photography has always been more about seeing than the gear itself.

What I miss most about early Flickr was how human it felt. The internet was smaller then. Photographers, writers, bloggers, travellers, and publishers all seemed to exist in the same shared creative space online.

There was no algorithm chasing behind it. No pressure to optimize every image for engagement. Just photos, curiosity, community, and genuine connection.

Looking back now, this moment feels like one of the early building blocks of what would eventually become Two Decades of Seeing — a photographic journey shaped by travel, curiosity, storytelling, community, and learning how to slow down long enough to truly notice the world around me.

And honestly, I’m still glad I asked for the free book.

More than one photograph from that Paris trip eventually ended up in print. Another image — this time featuring the Grande Arche de la Défense in Paris’s financial district — was later used in a book about living in France.

But I’ll save that story for another day.