I have a new favourite hangout on the web, it’s an social sharing, networking and image favouriting site called Pinterest.  I thought I’d share this stunning site with all of you, considering I now have a bit more time because I’m not doing a photo a day.

Pinterest is a social catalog service. Think of it as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can post collections of things you love, and “follow” collections created by people with great taste.

I followed a link to it from another photographer’s blog during December, and I’ve fallen in love with the concept.

It works just perfectly for image loving people, brides looking for wedding ideas, and photographers who draw inspiration from other blogs and websites around the world.

If you’re curious, go and have a look at my Pinboards that I’ve been creating over the last few weeks… My name is Jenty on Pinterest

Before I used Pinterest, I was very haphazardly storing images on my hard drive that I found inspiring, and there are a few problems with doing that…

1. I forget that I’ve done it, so I hardly look in my inspiration folders, and instead when I’m about to go out on a challenging shoot, I quickly search through my Google Reader for blog posts that I remember that inspired me… and that’s almost impossible to do quickly with the number of photo blogs that I follow.
2. I forget to download images that I like… and in fact, I don’t really like downloading images from other websites even if it is for my own use because of copyright.

So, this is the answer, and it’s so easy to use.  When you find an image that you like, press the “Pin it” button from your browser bar (you can download that very easily), and Pinterest asks you which image you’d like to Pin and it adds it to the board you’re building. It’s as easy as that.

The beauty of Pinterest is:

1. You can create multiple pinboards for different purposes
2. It’s so easy to pin an image
3. You’re not causing copyright issues as the link to the blogger still remains intact, and if anyone follows the image they get back to the original article… it’s perfect example of social content sharing.. and ends up creating more traffic to the photographer’s site!
4. It’s got an awesome social network built into it.  You can follow other Pinners that like similar images to you.  You can “like” their images, or choose to repin them.  So, in effect, they’re helping you find inspiration too!

What a win!

I’m not only using Pinterest to store photography that I find inspiring, but also to store images with home stuff that I like… and clothes that I’d like to buy.  It would also work so well for those who are not into photography or planning a wedding… especially if you’re planning a new home or going to redesign a room… or even if you’re a fashionista.

Pinterest is not completely open yet, but you can ask for an invite and they respond pretty quickly… or ask me in the comments and I’ll send an invite to the email address that you leave there

If you found this interesting, please let me know in the comments if you’d like me to do a few more posts like this… I’m always finding interesting stuff on the net… and this is where I learn… and I really like sharing my knowledge

PS.  I was not asked to write this review