Putting together daily galleries of visitor photos of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is always a pleasure, and this gallery is no exception. We are continually amazed by the talent and creativity of our visitors, and it’s fascinating to see how different photographers can see and interpret a single subject.

Just how do we curate our Flickr galleries? We look for eye-catching images that stand out for any number of reasons, including composition, subject matter, pattern, and color, and the impression that the photograph captures a unique moment in time that can never be replicated in quite the same way.

Since the photos that our visitors share are an important part of the Folklife Festival’s digital presence, we also look for images that document the wonderful diversity of humanity and human endeavor that the Festival draws to the National Mall. We try to balance representation of the three Festival programs, and to represent a range of photographers. We encourage conversations between our visitors and the artisans, dancers, and musicians who are their subjects, so photographs that include detailed information are particularly welcome. This information also provides context for the online viewer—who could be half a world away—to understand the photograph and the Folklife Festival experience.

If you would like to share your images of the Festival with us on Flickr, now is the time! We’ll choose one more daily gallery at the end of today, and we’ll feature that gallery on our Festival blog. Photographers selected for the final Best of the Festival Gallery will receive free Festival merchandise in acknowledgement of their contributions.

Be sure to tag your photos #2013Folklife.

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Ariel Fielding is a former Folklife Festival fellow in community and online engagement. Ariel first learned to use an SLR camera and a darkroom at the age of six, and has an enduring interest in documentary photography.