Help Support 35mmc in 2026

First things first, I just want to thank everyone for another year of being part of the 35mmc community – to everyone that subscribes, contributes, those of you who just comment from time to time, and even those of you who just dip in and out for a daily read of the site, thank you! You are all part of what keeps this place ticking – I hope you all continue to enjoy the website in whatever capacity you do!

That said, I hope you will indulge me in what essentially amounts me rattling my little bucket of coins, hoping a few more of you might drop a handful of pennies into it over the course of 2026…

As many of you know, I am currently running the website by myself. I love this website, and am so incredibly proud of what it has become – not really for my own achievement of running the place anymore, but instead more of the community it has become. I know so many of you now, a good few of you I consider friends. But moreover, I know that many of you have formed relationships with each other, in some cases beyond the boundaries of the website. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome from having started all this… and that’s even before I share my gratitude for all the hard work that so many of you put into creating content to keep this place alive and interesting for the thousands of people that visit the website everyday!

With that said, there is one thing that continues taint the place, and that’s the heavy weight of advertising I still need to plaster over it to make the site financially viable, not least to also cover a fraction of the time I put into working on the website every day. I currently spend around 1-3 working days worth of hours on the site a week (depending on how much time my other day jobs are taking up). Much of this is involved in the moderation and scheduling of content, reading as many of the comments as I can, and probably the most time consuming element, answering email enquires around the site, giving people advice around cameras, lenses, photography as a whole etc. It’s a lot of work, and it feels like it’s growing at the moment, though I’m not complaining as I genuinely enjoy it… I just have to balance it around my other work and home life too… My dream is that I win a large sum of money on the lottery or something which would just allow me to do this without the need for financial remuneration. As it is though, that, unfortunately, has yet to occur.

There are many ways people make money online, but ads on the website and subscriptions to remove them is the formula I have settled on for 35mmc. The ads though, really kill the website user experience for any casual viewers. But, when I have tried lowering the volume of ads a little, the revenue falls off a cliff – a small change in advert density can lose up to 1/3rd of the revenue. So, for now, I am sort of stuck…

What I want to ask, is that more people pay for a subscription, so that I can lower the amount of ads on the site a little bit for the benefit of those who don’t pay…  I know that doesn’t really make sense. Why would more people want to remove ads for the benefit of those who aren’t paying…? Well, my slightly twisted logic here is that if I can build the subscription base, reduce the ads a little, then we might be able to attract a few more interesting people to the site, who might currently be being put off by the ads when they land here. Make sense…? I know it’s a stretch, but hopefully my goal for making the website better for everyone is clear, and that I am just trying to find a way to crowd source a solution to problem.

So… back to my rattling bucket of coins: if you are new to the website, or indeed a long time lurker, I just want to remind you that there are two ways to support this website:

1. You can join up to submit content and become part of the community of writers. In return for this, you get lifetime ad-free experience of 35mmc.
2. You can subscribe for £2.99 a month (or more if you wish) and, again, the adverts disappear.
3. I know I said, two ways, but you can also do both of the above if you’re feeling really generous! (though please don’t read any obligation here – if you already write/have written for the site, you have done more than enough already)

I should add, I’m really going to be pushing for this over the course of 2026 – so thanks in advance for any support you are willing to give (and apologies in advance for annoying anyone by repeating this message throughout the year!!)

Happy new year everyone!

Cheers,
Hamish

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