I'll make a test:
the picture published above was one of the very first ones I put on flickr. I'll try to load up to around 210 pictures. (They say no content is deleted, only visibility is limited to the most recent 200 ones.)
My test consists in visibility in hosting. If no pictures are deleted, and if they continue to be visible in their references (i.e., in the photostories), there's no problem that I can't see the older pictures. And I'll may go on with my activities, even without paying, for the beginning.
(However it's very cheap, it's around $2,30 a month ... (R$ 4,oo/month).)
Let me try, then ...