Family, flying and photos from former years

In today’s profile, we meet Richard, or blipper Mooncoin.  As a boy, Richard tells us he never finished a diary; he seems to have made up for it now!

Saved in his journal is a whopping collection of more than five thousand five hundred memories going right back to the day he was born.  Richard lives in an area of Worcestershire in England known for its outstanding beauty - something that he appreciates from ground level and from the air.  He began daily blipping about thirteen years ago.

Enjoy discovering more about Richard here, find out what an ARMPIT blip is and don’t forget to watch the short film we’ve created of his favourite ten blips. 

Getting to know Richard
I’m 61 (that looks odd written down!) I’m originally from Leicester. We moved from Oxfordshire to Malvern two weeks before Tilly came along. Now it’s just Bernadette and Tilly and me in Malvern -  Isobel and Arthur having flown the nest. I work out on the road as a medical devices service engineer. (I never work out though).

Have you always been a photographer?
Yes. I got my first camera one Christmas when I was about eight years old. It was a special spy camera hidden in a suitcase!

My dad was a keen photographer and I guess my interest stemmed from there. His favourite subjects in photography were family members. When he died in 1975, I started using his Zenith E SLR and it went from there.  In 1982, I broke my femur in a hang gliding crash and during convalescence, I decided to quit my engineering job and go to college to study photography (I don’t think anyone needs to do this btw – but it was fun). Then I did a variety of photography jobs including a summer season as press photographer at Butlins in Ayr. When I got back from that, I was offered a job on a local paper down in Godalming but the money on offer was so rubbish that I turned it down and drifted back into engineering.

What started you blipping?
I was on a photography forum (ephotozine, I think) and someone posted a link to their latest blip. I can’t recall the blipper but I remember it was a pic of some rowers. I had a look and thought, that’s great. I want to do that. My initial plan was, I’ll try to do this for a whole year…

What do you enjoy about the concept?
As a lad, I started many diaries. I never finished one - but the intention was there! Blip seemed like a good challenge - but a doable one - and an opportunity to combine an underlying desire to keep a diary and take photos too.  I mean, how hard is it to take a photo a day and write any old rubbish?

How would you describe your journal?
Eclectic, esoteric and sometimes desperate.

Do you have a photographic style?
I don’t think I do - but I’ve never considered whether I do or not.

How important is the journaling side to you?
If I’ve something to record or say, it’s important. Otherwise, it’s a random picture and whatever comes into my head.

Do you use your journal to keep in touch with people?
I’d say not. But maybe people keep in touch with me, if you see what I mean.

YOUR JOURNAL, PHOTOGRAPHY & ADVENTURES

What are your favourite subjects for photography? 
It would have to be my family. Because I love them! I remember reading somewhere (this was before digital came along) that the most important photographs are the family snapshots people keep in their wallets. And I think that’s true. Now our wallets are our phones though. Getting pics of my kids these days is not so easy now they are grown up and out of my control!  I generally do enjoy taking pictures of people - although I don’t do an awful lot of that.

Tell us about your flying adventures.
I started hang gliding in 1978. Flying for me stands above everything else as far as ‘avoiding work’ pleasures go and it has always been a good reason to take a camera along at all times! Hang gliding takes you to some beautiful places here and abroad and I’ve made some really good lifelong friends through it. Seeing the world from above and getting up to the clouds by just using the power of nature is always very satisfying… and kind of meditative I’d say.  These days, I mostly stay local – the Malvern Hills are on my doorstep and I’m a member of an aerotowing club, based on an airstrip near Pershore, where we get towed up to about 2000 feet behind a microlight, then we release and look for thermals. That setup is great for the knees as it involves absolutely zero carrying heavy kit up steep hills!

Your archive of back-blips is quite a record - could you explain a bit about it?
I got my first digital camera around 2000 I think – and I’ve had one ever since. So adding digital photos taken since then has been easy (although I’m sure I’ve accidentally deleted many more through clumsy hard drive management). Then there are my flying photos – I kept a flying log book for many years and so can pinpoint the exact date of most of my flying-related shots. Then there are other pics – many slides and prints – where I’ve written down the date they were taken. This is a trait I must have inherited from my dad because many of his pics have the same info on them… so he has been my guest blipper for all those shots. Some of the dates recorded are trickier to ascertain – like ‘Easter Sunday 1962’. But the internet is a wonderful thing for getting all sorts of information.

The variety in your journal is amazing - what do you look for in a photo to save in your journal? How do you choose what to save?
Many and varied. Quite often it’s, ‘What did I take today? OK, I’ll use that.’ Other times I like the picture for aesthetic reasons. Other times I get carried away with certain subjects or techniques (soap bubbles in lockdown!) Then there’s the chance to record projects that come along (and if you’re refitting a kitchen for instance, there’s no time to go out and take a random picture of something else).  And other times it’s entirely contrived because I see something I find odd or amusing and think that’d be a good blip – especially if I think of a daft comment to go with it. 

How has photography changed for you over the years?
Thinking generally, it has changed an awful lot. The first 20 years for me was film. I hate to think how much money I wasted on Kodachrome because I used to snap away at anything. I remember talking to a friend in the late 90s about the upcoming digital revolution and I was dismissive of it.  How wrong I was! I now look on film as a century-long temporary measure until something better came along.

Since I’ve been blipping, it’s the technology that has changed the way we all take and use photos. Now, for me – and nearly everyone else I guess, it’s got to be with or through my phone. I don’t think I’ve posted a blip from my computer for five years or so. So, any camera I use must have wireless connectivity or I don’t want to know.

ABOUT BLIPFOTO

Why Blipfoto?
I haven’t come across anything else to compete with Blipfoto. It’s such a simple concept: a community that is dedicated to taking one photo per day with a few words if they wish. Each individual’s journal is a body of work that becomes more valid with each passing day. And taken as a whole, the content of Blipfoto is such a fascinating glimpse into the daily exploits of people from all over the planet.

How has daily blipping impacted on your life generally?
Hardly a day goes by when I don’t think about getting an image for my journal. Sometimes I don’t have to deliberately take a blip because I’m taking pictures anyway – but there’s always the semiconscious thought of ‘oh - that’s today’s blip done’. Half the time though, I’m deliberately looking for a subject and will even go out my way to get the picture. I never look on it as a burden though – it’s just a routine part of the day. Many of my pics are taken at home at the end of the day – and that might be indicative of either a lack of time or just plain laziness. 

What’s the biggest challenge with daily blipping?
A while ago, I discovered that I’d missed out a day going back a few years. I looked on my hard drives for a pic to use… There wasn’t one. I can hardly believe I missed a blip! 

The biggest challenge is getting half decent content. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. I recently did an ARMPIT blip (A Random Meaningless Photo In Time) just to fill the space - but any old rubbish is better than no rubbish at all when you’re a Blip obsessive!

What does the Blipfoto community mean to you?
I think the community aspect is lovely. When I started, blip felt like a tiny village - and so everyone knew of each other. Then, over the years, it has expanded to the point where you can every day see a name you’ve never heard of. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not so socially involved these days as I once was. For that, I place the blame on Facebook, Youtube etc vying for my attention. 

What motivates you to keep blipping?
If I’m honest, it’s probably a need to somehow mark my existence here on earth! I’m quite interested in genealogy and I hope that someday in the distant future my decedents will be interested to see what my world was like.  

What would you say to other blippers or people who are considering signing up.
That you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain! Once your journal starts to take on a bit of momentum, you won’t want to stop. The phone app is great and makes it so easy to keep your blips up to date. After a year or so, you’ll be able to bore your friends and family with phrases such as, “Hey, guess what we were doing this time last year.”

Mooncoin’s Top 10
Richard has shared his favourite ten blips with us - enjoy them here in this short film.