With home printed pictures, I seriously doubt it. Especially if using third party inks & displaying the photos where air/UV can get to them.

Electronic files are also much easier to transfer to new media, as long as you don't leave it too long - I guess if I find the book I started writing 25 years ago (on a 5 1/4" floppy somewhere) I'd find it difficult to convert now, though there might be a suitable drive in the loft.

There are a number of online locations (such as the Gallery here) where I share some of the better/more interesting ones, then a very small proportion get printed. So far only two shots have been printed professionally (My printer won't print a 20' panorama!) and probably less than 100 printed properly at all.
I'm a member of a local Photo workshop where some of the printed ones get shown & members also have the opportunity to display at a few club exhibitions each year...

There are now thousands stored on my hard drive, I tell myself I'll go through & sort them sometime. At least with digital I look at the images more often than I did with film!

I like the garlic.
The background is better in the second, but DOF isn't quite enough for the flower head so overall I prefer the first. Nice to see the comparison of the two apertures - was this with a tripod & same focus?
Cherry blossom looks too contrasty to me. It's a difficult subject that might actually look better in a dreamy soft focus...

Thanks to a timely price reduction at SRS, I've managed to get a Bigmos for only £7 (and 25 years service)! A slight mix up at work meant that I only actually got my hands on it yesterday (nearly a month after I completed my 25 years).

Once a couple of DIY jobs were finished today I had the chance to sit out in the garden & play with it...






My cat seemed to want be to photograph his new toy as well, because he brought me a mouse, and stepped out of the way for me!



All in all, I'm rather impressed especially as all the shot were handheld!

Any will work. Tough the 'auto' aperture feature some M42 lenses have will not function. (It basically allows pre-selection of aperture, whilst the lens only actually shuts at the point of taking the photo).

My previous attempts were generally fairly similar to yours. Using a tripod & wider lens makes all the difference.

I found with the local (free) fireworks on Monday that I could set a tripod up by the crowd barrier twenty minutes before the show started (~250yds from the point they were setting them off).
It was then adequately out of the way but perhaps having the kids sitting round it helped. First time I've got anything remotely worthwhile from fireworks shots! Exposures ranged from 4-30s.
One of the better shots:


I found that 18mm wasn't quite wide enough for some of the shots - a 12-24mm would probably have been ideal.

As frogfish said you'll want something a bit longer, along with luck, LOADS of practice, and willingness to accept a low success rate. I've been trying to photograph motor racing for years and still find only ~1% of a days shooting worth sharing on-line.

There are reasonably priced long lenses available (My F100-300 cost me ~£70) so if you intend to try more often it needn't cost a fortune, and can also prove useful for wild life...

What sorts of Photography interest you most? I have to admit I use 50-300mm lenses most.

Welcome Laura, Nice to have another member somewhat nearer than the norm! I'm just down the road in Clacton.
I'm somewhat jealous of the K5, my K7 is great but the better low light capabilities of the K5 are something I wish I could have afforded.

I fail to see how the quality of a lens can be judged soley by its MTF rating. There are so many variables in what makes a good lens.
Even if focal length & aperture are fixed, for some applications smooth Bokeh might be vital where for others edge to edge sharpness would be critical.