Formerly owned by...

... L. Oertling.

Turnmill Street, Farringdon.

Built in 1874 , this was formerly the premises of Ludwig Oertling, whose firm 'manufacturers of bullion chemical and assay balances and hydrometer makers' remained there until the 1920s. It’s now a Spanish restaurant, Ibérica.  It’s good to see that the old stone carved name remains; just the sort of thing that helps us tour guides recount the history of the area.

It seemed an appropriate photo for the day it was announced that blipfoto has partnered with/been bought up by/sold out to* (*select an option or insert your own) polaroid. Like many others on here, I sensed a sub-text to all the recent changes, suspected that a bombshell was waiting to be dropped, that what was promised as a surprise might instead turn out to be a shock. Now that the announcement has come I am neither surprised nor shocked, just sad.
Do I like the redesign? Not particularly. Am I too old to embrace change? I’d like to think not. Yes, uploading is quicker and smoother (no oopsies!), browsing with the enlarged, colour thumbnails is better but that’s about it. It could be argued that those are the most important elements of a photo-sharing website and that they weren’t working well before but the radical redesign seemingly required to fix them feels a bit like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Blipfoto used to be different, distinctive, distinguished. Now it’s no longer unique but bland and sameish, with little to differentiate it from the other photo journal sites out there. So as there’s not much to choose between them, I might as well stay here.  Not to mention that I’d miss the journals I follow if I left – thank-you to those who have encouraged me not to go.  In any case, I’m a lifetime member so am in a bit of a Hotel California situation: “you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”. (Perhaps an ear-worm warning was required for that one!)
Polaroid Blipfoto is too much of a mouthful for a name though – and why Polaroid first, as many others have commented? At least they didn’t call it polablip or bliparoid…