Thousands of picture perfect moments presented themselves when the Olympic Torch made its way through the Township of Langley on Monday, February 8, and local shutter bugs are encouraged to share their photos with the community and preserve those precious memories for generations to come.

A Flickr photo pool has been set up online and residents who captured the Olympic Torch Relay in Walnut Grove, Fort Langley, Aldergrove, or Willoughby, or took pictures at the Community Celebration, Torch Festival, or Slovakia vs Russia exhibition hockey game, are encouraged to upload their photos.

“This is an easy and effective way to preserve this once-in-a-lifetime event for posterity,” said Township of Langley Councillor Jordan Bateman, Chair of the Township’s Torch Relay Committee. “I bet there were hundreds of amazing shots taken of this historic event by members of the community and it would be wonderful to share them and store them.”

To load your photos on to the Flickr site, go to http://www.flickr.com/...s/langleytorch/. Create an account, upload the pictures to your personal photostream, then search for the Langley BC's 2010 Olympic Torch Visit group and add your photos.

Those who submit photos are asked to include details in their photo cutlines such as names of the people in the shot, where the photo was taken, and at what time.

The Flickr pool will be up until April 1, then the photos will be collected and digitally archived and used by the Township of Langley’s Corporate Communications Department and Langley Centennial Museum.

 “Some people believe that museums are a type of glorified warehouse for old 'stuff,’ and in too many cases they are awfully close to the truth,” said John Robertson, Langley Centennial Museum Services Manager. “But Langley's museum is dedicated to telling the stories of Langley's people. We treasure our past, we're proud of who we are today, and we're looking forward to the future. That's what these photos represent: stories we are making today to be told in the future.” 

Langley Centennial Museum hopes to catalog and hold the photos in its digital collection, Robertson said, and the community shots will go a long way towards capturing this specific event and time.

“When Langley celebrates its 200th birthday – and 2073 isn't that far away you know - people will be able to look at these pictures with the same curiosity and wonder as we do at pictures from the 1940's and 50's and say, Didn't they dress funny back then?” he laughed.