Things are looking down

... and things are falling into place...

I'd had misgivings over the site redesign (and happily aware that this is down to personal preference and there are many who like the stark white); clearly this is all to tie in with the more 'colourful' Polaroid aspect of the site - the little rainbow at the top there wouldn't have worked at all with the old grey. I also wonder (cynically perhaps) if the redesign was pushed to make it not tie in directly with the Polaroid partnership, so people wouldn't blame it, but rather that this was 'planned all along, and oh look, we've also got a new corporate tie-up'.

I realise that we, as users, don't really 'own' the site in any way, and with what started out as a lovely little idea, that grew into a business, I can understand why a tie-up such as this would be attractive, and seen as the next step. For me though (and again this is an entirely personal view)  it's a little something else that takes it away from the site I signed up to something like 6 years ago.

The best way I can describe it is that the grey background, the minimal layout, and truth be told the way that Placid Casual's shot looked against that design, put me in mind of a rather cool little urban gallery populated by some really nice folk (who weren't given to talking like the explanatory boards by pictures in a cool little urban gallery). The redesign, and the link with Polaroid, makes it feel more like Athena cards, something that is unimposing, a characterless shop front of homogenisation, not trying to be too 'different' for fear of putting people off. That won't chime with all, or indeed possibly any others, but I can't really control how I feel about it.

Seems odd to have invested so much in a website that is really just where I chuck a photo up every day, but some time ago I determined what I liked the site for. Documenting what was happening in my life. Even flicking back through entries is now less straightforward than it used to be, rather than having directly accessible thumbnails - whether on my iMac, a PC, iPad, or Android phone, the little dropdown calendar and year forward and back links, they don't always work, or take a while to drop down. It feels.... Clunky. Which is strange given the finance that it's now clear has been behind it.

I'll continue posting, I still want to document. BUt I'm actually going to start archiving my entries onto my own machine if certain worries come to pass (they may not, it's really just contingency) the main one being that really this is no longer Blipfoto, but rather a Polaroid offshoot (it's been said it's a partnership rather than an acquisition, and hopefully that's the case). More hope is that there isn't a shift in the rules on protecting our photos, and Polaroid won't acquire rights to use them etc etc etc. I may be worrying unnecessarily, but worries there are.

It all feels a bit like when your favourite independent brewer gets bought by Carlsberg. You hope that independent spirit and feel will remain; but at the same time you're aware of the conglomerate sitting there overseeing. And little, tiny things like the Polaroid name coming before Blipfoto in the new url....

Anyway, that's my braindump on the subject, so no more till we see just which direction it's all going. For the time being I'll remain in that state of dichotomy, understanding entirely why it's been done, but ever so slightly disappointed that it has.

But on the subject of documenting my life - good day. Feeling better, so out into town for Mel to collect a bag from a reputable expensive company; a trip to the National Portrait Gallery to see the BP Portrait Awards (talking of conglomerates...); a failed attempt to find a specific pair of jeans, but manage to snaffle some cheap merino; a galette lunch with some proper genuine Breton cider and waiter; and a very short ride up to Duddingston Loch to speak to the swans and take in the rays.