365

Hello Everyone !

I realised last week that my next posting would be my 365th - and I had a little crisis ! After a year, what does one post ? Shouldn't it be brilliant ? Do I need to demonstrate to anyone ( myself included ! ) that I've grown as a photographer ? What on earth do I do ? 

And then ...

What do I do now ? What's the next 365 ? Where do I go from here ? 

So I took a week to think about it - something that I have learned in the last year is that missing a day or two, or 7 doesn't result in any significant harm to anyone or anything, and in fact, a breather occasionally does you some good.

During my week off, my parents were here, and my Dad, having seen the last years worth of Blipping very kindly dug out some old cameras for me that they had. I knew about two of the ones that arrived, as I remember them from my childhood - the third, the one in the shot here, is actually my Grandfather's and I'd never seen it before - on top of that, I'd only heard of a "half-frame" camera a few days before it arrived.

A half frame is to 35mm film what APS-C is to full-frame digital - it uses 1/2 of a frame of film per shot - thus converting a 24 shot film to a 48 and a 36 to a 72 ! With the cost of film and processing still not being cheap this seems like a wonderful idea !

It is actually a Canon Demi, and aside from the light-meter ( not an uncommon issue with selinium light meters ) seem to be working perfectly. If I can suss out the exposure without the light meter, or fix it, then I'll be taking it out and getting some snaps !

So, at the end of the week, what can I say my conclusions are ? 

1) I love blipping - so I will carry on quite happily for the forseeable future :-)
2) You are all such wonderful, talented and kind people, I'm thrilled to bits to be part of such a community.
3) My own personal aspirations in the next year involve using more real film, actually printing more of my shots and displaying them in the real world - but most importantly, keep enjoying the process.
4) The foray into running two accounts, one for colour and one for B&W didn't really work for me - my heart isn't in colour really, and thus, I expect to retire that - the occasional extra I think is my limit.

Thank you all so very much indeed, from the bottom of my heart, for all of the wonderful things that you've said, your support and your humour - I am truly honoured.

Fondest regards,

Simon