100 Days, 100 Blips

Woooooops!

I stole a march on myself yesterday when I uploaded for Saturday, Sunday and Monday all at the same time. For some reason I can't explain, I was absolutely convinced that my 100th blip was due tomorrow and not today, but there it was staring me in the face: '99 entries'! So it was all a bit of a panic today thinking of what to do to mark this special occasion. I had a few half-baked ideas, one of which involved the old reliable approach of combining multiple shots into a montage that'd get the Century message across, another which meant sourcing some props for a tabletop setup.

I did my best on both counts, but neither option was going well as the afternoon and evening wore on, so I simultaneously found myself trying to find one decent image which I'd be happy enough to use as a fallback but which would be good enough to offer up on the Century altar. I'm not as good at juggling as I thought I was. I abandoned the montage as soon as I transferred from camera to iMac, because I was still missing some of the elements I had in mind. I went on to abandon the tabletop setup too, because the props refused to cooperate.

So I looked again at what I'd been thinking of as stand-alone images as I blipped them. I pared them down to four, thinking at first of combining them into a montage, but they didn't go all that well together as a group and I'd found myself favouring one above the others anyway. So, despite best efforts and because of my own stupidity in thinking I had another twenty four hours to sort this out, here's my very low-key 100th blip. I promise I'll try harder for 19th May 2008 (which is the scheduled date for blip number 365 if I continue to post each day). Just so they don't go to waste, the other three which made to today's short list (each representing a different one of some of my favourite themes) are here, here, and here.

I never imagined that I'd stay the course and manage to produce 100 photos in 100 days. I suspected when I signed up that Blipfoto would prove interesting, but I never expected that it would develop so quickly into such an important part of my life. I know it's become almost a truism at this stage, but I have to say it again nonetheless: the challenge of only posting photos which have been taken on the day they're dated for has entirely changed the way I think of and use my camera, not only at the simplistic level of forcing me out and about, camera at the ready, every day, but also (and even more significantly) by directing me to look at my surroundings in a different way -- quite literally, to open my eyes.

That alone is sufficient reason for being thankful for the fact that I joined up here, but it is only one part of the Blipfoto equation. Equally wonderful is the tremendous community spirit which makes being a part of Blip such a rewarding experience. The personal encouragement and support I've received in the past 100 days has been quite extraordinary and I appreciate it enormously, as has been the inspiration from the astonishingly high standard of work which graces this site on a regular basis. Finally, I want to express personal thanks and gratitude to Skyroad. I already knew and admired his Journal, and I signed up originally in order to comment on one of his entries. I am delighted that I opted to do so as a Contributor rather than as a non-participant. So, thank you, Skyroad, for making this all happen.

Final p.s. -- Today's image was taken this afternoon as I took a refreshment break in The Brazen Head pub, which describes itself as Ireland's oldest (established in 1198, they claim). The sun came out as I sat in the courtyard with my G & T and I gleefully switched on the camera and activated the shutter to satisfy my eternal fascination with scenes such as this.