Farewell: Two hundred and thank you

Two hundred and goodbye.

For a long time I've put off posting any image because I had already decided that after 200 I was going to leave Blip. I looked for the perfect image for this, but realized that I just have to get it over with.

I had already stopped posting regularly, then I stopped commenting, and recently I've even stopped lurking. So it is time to leave.

Blipfoto has made a huge difference in my life. It helped me see things more, get outside myself, made taking pictures much more exciting, established a good discipline. It also got me through some tough times this year.

Blip for me has been emotionally complicated. Taking pictures is emotionally powerful (though I didn't know that when I started), but what I really didn't expect was the feelings I had for you all and the feelings I had when someone commented (or didn't) on things I had posted. I have been amazed also at what people here have revealed about their lives. I find that as Blip has grown, I could no longer find the community easily (or I stopped looking, perhaps).

I am indebted to many here, but I'd like to thank especially those who helped when I first started blipping:

Sea Urchin, who seemed to me to be the emotional center of Blip. SU, my favorite of yours (if you are still looking) is this one.

Hope, who eponymously provided hope all the time, beside capturing such sound and wonderful images.

Kamran, who could without embarrassment experiment. Plus, I never could understand how you got people to allow you to take their incredible portraits.

Goodbye, who I think must be magic. Young, a great great eye, wonderful colors and compositions. To say nothing of the subject matter. I still wish you would publish your photos in a book.

Chaos, Benek, Chick Flick, and all the others who provided such good comments along with good images, and all the many others who I subscribed to.

And finally, Life of Bri, whose amazing landscapes did good things to my heart (and made we want to go there, wherever they were).

Thanks all.