Flickr Friday: October 9, 2009

You may recognize Derek Powazek’s name. He’s a pioneering Web designer, an in-demand speaker at conferences such as An Event Apart, and the co-founder of JPG Magazine. One of his current gigs is giving social media advice to HP Labs’ MagCloud, a print-on-demand service for self-publishing magazines.
And that’s where Flickr comes in. Let’s hear it in his own words:
“Strange light fell over Australia on 23 September 2009. An unexpected dust storm blanketed New South Wales and Queensland, turning everything an eerie shade of amber. At its peak, the storm swept up 140,000 tons of soil per hour. In spite of the worst dust storm in 70 years, intrepid photographers ventured outside to document what was happening to their homes, neighborhoods, and country… I started by writing to a few friends I had in Sydney. Then I searched Flickr for photos I liked, and wrote to the photographers to ask for their participation (here’s Flickr’s FAQ on this). I also found a group on the topic and posted there.”
After 31.5 hours of finding images, requesting photographers’ permission to publish the images, and laying out the 40 pages, Derek uploaded the final file to MagCloud. You can read his post detailing the process and flip through the magazine digitally. Here are a few pages:

To see all 54 photos, you’ll have to buy the $6 publication, called “Strange Light Issue 1.”