Greetings,
Welcome to Peter and Susan’s “Virtual Attic” on the Osnos Flickr Archive! On behalf of our family, we hope you’re able to enjoy and learn from the various pictures and documents that we have uploaded. Like all attics, more and more “stuff” is added over time, so this is by no means an exhaustive sum of what we have to share.
Before we delve into the archive, here’s some nomenclature to help you follow along:
- A collection is either a group of albums or a group of a group of albums (possibly even a group of a group of a group of albums). Each collection is shown with a mosaic of several different photos that lie within to help you better identify what you’re looking at. Think of it as a cabinet or a box with smaller boxes or folders inside.
- An album, just like physical albums, are groups of photos, often organized in some particular fashion. Some albums have a large number of items, some have few. There are many albums to choose from and are grouped with specificity.
- Photos can be scanned copies of physical photos, digital photos, or documents. Some photos have codes in their descriptions, which you can ignore. When browsing through the archive, you may notice that some photos appear in multiple albums. Don’t worry, you don’t have déjà vu. Some photos fit into multiple categories and are thus labeled as such. For example, say there’s a picture of Peter and Susan with Peter’s parents. Well, do they go in an album of the former or the latter? The answer is both. Therefore, you’ll see the photo in both places. Additionally, to zoom in or out, simply click if you are using a computer or do the zoom in/out motions with your fingers if you are on your phone.
- Sharing photos is possible through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, or Email. If you click on a specific photo and open up its screen, you’ll see an icon depicting a small arrow pointing to the right on the bottom right hand of the picture. Click on it and you’ll see a pop-up with several options. On mobile devices, single tap on the photo and you’ll find the same icon on the bottom right corner of the screen.
- “Faving” a photo (or favoriting a photo) is indicated by a star, located to the left of the share icon. You can only “fave” a photo if you are signed into a Flickr account. It is not necessary to have a Flickr account however, to view the Attic.
- Downloading photos is possible, should you wish to add one to your files. If you’re viewing a document and want a better look, downloading it may be the best option as the zoom function is limited. Next to the share icon on a photo’s page you will find an icon with a line and a down arrow. Clicking on it will prompt a question as to the size of the photo you’d like to download. I often go with “Actual Size,” as it’s the simplest. Once you’ve downloaded the file, you should find it in your computer’s “Downloads” folder.
- Navigating the site: now here’s where it can be a bit tricky, but this is very important. Flickr’s collection function is not great to say the least. The site’s native “back to albums list” will not navigate you back to a collection if you are viewing an album or a photo. Therefore, you have to use your browser’s back button if you want to backtrack and continue to view the archive. Please remember to do this and only this if you don’t want to get lost. If you do in fact do this, and end up in the albums list with a bunch of miscellaneous albums, click on “Albums” and on the right hand side, there will be“View collections”. Click on it and you will see various collections. The first one will be the Virtual Attic. Click on it and you’ll be back to the main page. Sorry for the inconvenience, it’s the system, not us.
Great, now that you understand the nomenclature, it’s time to get started
Click on this link to get started. Keep this page open in a separate tab or window so you can follow along.
Now that you’ve clicked on the link, you’re now viewing the main page. The main page has four collections, with three of them having collections of their own.
The first collection, “The Osnos Family – A History” includes vintage photos of Peter’s family, with some photos stretching back to the advent of the art form, as well as various documents that were amongst his father’s belongings. If you click on it, you’ll see that it’s separated into two collections: one with photos and the other with documents.
The second collection, “Peter’s Life” has albums that showcase various periods of Peter’s life, in chronological order.
The third collection is titled “Peter’s Works”. This holds a few of his articles and the cover to the book.
The fourth and final collection is titled “Peter and Susan’s Family”. This includes their families at-large. If you click on an album, their relationship to either Peter or Susan will be listed in the description.
That should be it. You’re now ready to view the archive. Enjoy!