500 Scarista sea shells

So now you know why I spent part of yesterday morning gathering seashells on Scarista beach. If you can be bothered to count them, you will find that there are 500 in total - but it's probably easier to take my word for this. In any case, I hope that you might find a quick read of my reflections below as a more interesting prospect than checking whether or not I can count ;-)

I have mentioned before that I believe that my photography practice is improving with time. Now I have some concrete evidence of this: I won third prize in a photography competition for a shot of the Meadows that I posted to my journal on 18th December 2012 - hurrah!

My favourite shots since my 365 are:

Flashing past frozen fields - 17 January 2013
Botanic Robin - 19 January 2013
Boy soldier - 20 January 2013
Misty sunrise from Princes Street Gardens - 27 February 2013
Stakes in the snow - 17 March 2013
Reflections at the RSE - 23 April 2013
Shard in the sunshine - 7 May 2013

My understudy Mr hazelh has also made some good contributions to my journal in this period. The one of his that I like best is Calm at Corinthian Quay - 18 February 2013. I was also very impressed at how he persuaded his ancient Nokia mobile phone to take a fabulous shot of reflections in Gladhouse reservoir on 5th March 2013.

Of course Blipfoto isn't only about the photography. It's as much about the blippers and their stories, and how we make connections across the community. One of my greatest pleasures since my 365th blip has been my growing friendship with walkingMarj, who I met in person for the first time in our own mini blipmeet (supervised by our parents!) on 31st March 2013. Indirectly walkingMarj has launched my mother's media career - including a television appearance - and this all came about because I remembered playing with a wooden doll of my mother's when I was little.

As ever, I have continued to enjoy the company of all my other "old" blipfriends, especially MarieClaire60, NickyH, ReliantRobin, ClarissaFox, Selinaandbrock, and snapper, as well as my newer pals: friedaquilter, yeeeeed, and KerryD62. I have had some fun with SECRETSLIMMER, whose identity is still unknown to most, but no longer a secret to (ace detective) me.

Thank you to everyone who reads my journal and leaves comments. It's one of the highlights of my day to catch up with everyone and their journals, so long may it continue :-)

If you're interested in my other milestone blips and how I celebrated them, you'll find them here:

365
300
200
100 (the illegal one)
1 (stars Graham and Joe at Blip Central)