The most stunning photography on the web can be found on flickr.com - a web 2.0 site teeming with amateur photographers and their user generated content, i.e. photos.

Photographers freely upload and organize their photos on the site, sharing their pics through personal albums or through public albums that are open to contributions from anyone. These public photo albums, called group pools, are generally dedicated to a particular subject. And is there a group for every subject! There is a group dedicated to mailboxes, a group to burmese kittens, even a group for head pinching. If it can be shot, there is a group.

And because balloons can be shot quite nicely it follows that there are plenty of groups dedicated to balloons.

There is the Red Balloon group where every photo features a red balloon.

Her Balloon Happiness group, where every photo is of a woman and a balloon. There is also one devoted to men and balloons, but the photos are nowhere nearly as good - now why is that?

There are the free for all balloon groups such as the Balloons (Not Hot Air) group and its ill-moderated sister, Balloons!! group.

Outside of these larger balloon photo groups there are smaller groups that focus on very particular subjects. One such balloon themed group I came across was devoted to the memory of Ava, a girl who passed away last year. Friends are invited to post photos of balloons in memory of the young girl.

There are reasons for all these balloon photos and balloon photo communities.

Descriptions of these photo groups are written by their moderators. They are a compelling insight into what balloons represent to the contributors of the group, because contributors intentionally make the choice to join. The Sad Balloons group is about:

Pictures of sad balloons. Solitary, abandoned, deflated… and perhaps the odd untethered one, floating off to a better place…

The BaLLooN CLuB is:

for the colourful world of balloons… for the memories of our childhood…

And the idea behind Her Balloon Happiness:

… is to focus on female people’s joys originating from balloons; toys that are simple yet grandiose in their own way. They make people happy and they have a relation to a retention of innocence. A place where people who love balloons as decoratons [sic] or companions can feel comfortable. A place for people who regard blowing up balloons as fun, not a chore. A place for people who may have hugged a balloon for comfort at some time in their lives.

Memory and innocence, comfort and companionship, loss and loneliness. Balloons are asked to carry a lot. And people want to share.

I find it hard to know how serious to take these communities. These descriptions and the comments that the photos receive can seem to lack substance or are even comical to me. At the same time, actual people are choosing to connect over balloons, photos of balloons no less. Somehow balloons are part of their language of self-expression, of their self-understanding.

BalloonPlanet gets a flickr group

Are our customers and partners photographers? Do you take photos of balloons?

BalloonPlanet has a flickr group. Upload your photos of balloons, balloon bouquets, and balloon decor. Add them to our group pool and your photos will be eligible to be featured on our blog or on the front page of the freshly redesigned BalloonPlanet homepage.

This is one more way we can promote the business of balloons and also explore the curious meaning of balloons to our culture.