300 and counting...

I have been hatching this one for a while now. I nearly saved it for the next big milestone but my options were limited as far as blips go this afternoon.

It was tough.

The skywrite pilot had a job on his hands. "Fly above Wynnum Pier at around 5.30pm", I told him.

"No worries", he said.

Then....

"Hey! I asked for a 300, not a 200! Clown! What am I paying you for!!!"

So he got out his big skywrite eraser and had to start over.

If you believe that you will believe anything.

Hail Photoshop an some very average select, clone and distort.

It is hard to come up with an original idea for these Blip milestones.

Jo's Dad and his dog Jassie were with me for the big event. Jassie is not real good on a leash so I decided to throw caution to the wind and shoot several quick frames so that Dad, dog and me didn't part company. That is how a good blip should be anyway. Done, dusted then on with the rest of the day.

My family are probably a bit surprised that I have managed to commit to a project for so long. To know me as a person is to know that I am easily distracted. Photography has been a twenty year hobby on and off though. I have worked in the support side of the industry for half of that time, printing and processing images for others. My mentor and good friend William Long started me on this path when I came to Australia. He is a world class photographer and taught me a lot when I was his assistant some 14 years ago. Paul Perton's early photos gave me the interest in photography in the first place. That would be more than thirty years ago. He is half a world away in South Africa but is still someone I coun't as a friend and mentor too. Not to mention the fact that he introduced me to Blipfoto in the first place. I am a little ashamed to say that I haven't visited his blip in a while. I must be getting a bit up myself.

Thanks to my many commenters who seem to keep coming back even when I don't return comments of my own. Believe me, I do visit your blips. My wife Jo is a keen blip viewer too, regularly getting me to come and look at some exceptional piece of photography. I just wish there were more Australian blippers.

Many thanks to Joe for running a wonderful website and it's tight knit community. Thanks for giving me something to do every day. I won't mention the things I am not getting done because I am doing a Blip but that is another story.

They say that nothing is for free. Well, I beg to differ.