it needs more than a plaster …

….  it needs an injection of cash.

The good folks at blipfuture are working hard to save Blipfoto.  Here’s why it means so much to me.

About 10 years ago my life changed forever when I was diagnosed with cancer.  Soon afterwards I came across a poem by W.H. Auden (Miss Gee) in which he writes about the disease;

childless women get it
and men when they retire
it’s as if there had to be some outlet
for their foiled creative fire

That last line struck a chord with me; I’ve always considered myself to be a creative person.  And then a friend sent me a book by a doctor writing about the role of creativity as therapy - particularly for people who have life-changing diseases or conditions.   

So I bought a digital camera.  And attempted to get in touch with my creative side.

I underestimated just how difficult this task would be.  I had a darkroom when I was younger - I knew how to operate a camera.  I understood the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO.  How hard could it be?

I had no idea just how complex digital cameras were compared with film cameras; and how complex the processing (software manipulation) could be.  If you don’t want to be stuck on AUTO, that is.  And that’s the thing; surely creativity only comes when you take charge of the camera?  Not always it would seem.

Things came to a head when I realised Anniemay was taking wonderful photographs with her ‘point and shoot’ and I was getting rubbish from my DSLR.  Then when she got a ‘proper camera’ and joined Blipfoto her photography just soared.  I got to the point of giving up.

She nagged encouraged me to join her and eventually I did.  And I’ve taken at least one photo every day since.  I’ve learnt more about photography - and myself - in the past 668 blips than I have in the past 40 years.  Sometimes I look back at my journal and think ‘did I really take that?’  Well yes I did.

Blipfoto is special; for me the combination of pictures and words is what makes this site unique.  People tell stories - and stories are what help us make sense of the world we live in.

And maybe I’m lucky with the people who look at my journal, because unlike most other sites where photographers gather, no one says anything nasty or bangs on about focal lengths and crop factors and how much better one make of camera is than another - the journals are simply allowed to speak for themselves.  

Blipfoto has the potential to become a global photography club, owned and run by its members.  Compared with the costs of actually taking photographs, it’s relatively cheap.  The current estimates for a membership fee work out at less than the price of a cup of coffee.  Per week.

I can’t imagine anything else quite like it.  Happy New Blip.