TOM RICE-SMYTH.

Image copyright Tom Rice-Smyth.

I remember way back in the mists of time (2007) when I started this blog. I had no real idea what format it was going to take other than it was loosely going to be about Manchester & photography (can you see how I came up with the name?)

Starting a blog is, for the first few posts a bit like shouting into the dark, you have no idea who if anyone is out there. And this went on for a while until I stuck a statcounter on here, I knew then that a couple of people were at the very least stumbling across my posts.

The first big land mark for a blog is when people start to leave comments, that's the important bit, that's when you start to connect with folk, that's the first evidence that you have of an audience. You have started to meet people and discover, albeit virtually, interesting people and fantastic things you may not have other wise come across. Tom was one of those people and his blog was one of those creations. Tom was one of the first ever people to leave comments here at MANCHESTER PHOTOGRAPHY, the first human contact I received here in cyberspace, other than someone who just kept calling me a wanker that is.

So it's with great sadness that I have learnt that he has hung up the blog. I think it's a real shame and a genuine loss to not only the photo blog world but the world in general. Tom has been a true pioneer of British photographers using the Internet, running his blog since January 2006 with almost daily uploads of photographs of this nations capital city. Never using the blog to massage his ego as so many of us do, I believe that it was acting as a worthwhile and increasingly complete mammoth documentation of modern London. Tom's understated style ran through the thousands of images without detracting from the near forensic inspection of almost every detail of London town. Finished sooner than I think it should have been, I really do believe that Tom has made a most complete Document, of London between 2006-20010. Wishing Tom all the best, here's to one of the best and most worthwhile photo blogs on the web..............