Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Blackpool Tower

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For a considerable amount of time through my life, I believed that Blackpool Tower had been constructed as a prototype for the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I’m not sure where I gained this belief, although I suspect it originated, as so many long-held and unquestioned beliefs do, in the school playground. Some believable kid probably told us in a sage and wise tone about the origins of the Eifel Tower being in a Lancastrian seaside resort. This unremebered child didn’t offer any explanation as to why Gustave Eiffel had decided to come to the windy north west of England to test out his design. Or perhaps we simply believed that he had copied the Blackpool Tower (the reality is that Blackpool Tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower).

Whatever the case, I never event thought to question any of this knowledge until much later in life whereupon at some point I guess I suddenly had a random realisation that it was all a load of bullshit.

I had similar beliefs about the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle being a prototype for the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well, although, in that case, the builders and designers of the two bridges were the same, and the Tyne Bridge predates it’s larger Sydney version by a few years.

Blackpool Tower

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Mirror Ball revisited

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I photographed this artwork (officially titled “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?“)last year during an autumn trip to Blackpool and posted about it here, but the two photos I’m sharing today were from a visit this year, back in July – we went back again because we had a complimentary room.

There are a lot of public artworks around in the UK – I think there may be requirements on developers to install such things when the build new projects, but many of them feel somewhat arbitrary. This one though, is there for its own sake and it’s quite a spectacle up cloese.

Mirrorball

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Glitterball revisited

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Blackpool prom

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A couple of weeks back I posted a picture of Blackpool’s “Comedy Carpet”. The Comedy Carpet formed part of an £87 million redevelopment project around Blackpool promenade and seafront.

Among the other new features added are the Giant Spoons, although these seem to be much more commonly referred to as the “Tulips”. These things are huge and must be well in excess of 100 feet tall and are quite the sight to behold, especially when you are stood right beneath them and they are swaying in the wind on their flexible stalks. There’s something slightly unnerving about them, like they’re a part of a Martian tripod from The War of the Worlds, or something.

I cropped the image to a 6×7 format to remove some uninteresting sky.

On the prom

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Brilliance

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This metal sculpure names Brilliance resides on Birley Street in Blackpool and was installed as part of the town’s regeneration by light scheme. It takes the theme of “a continuous ribbon spiralling in and out of the ground” and is illuminated at night.

I didn’t see it after dark but it still made a striking enough subject for a photograph in the daylight hours.

Precinct

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Roller coasters and Ferris Wheels

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Back to the Blackpool photos for a few days, with a couple of types of thrill rides (although I gues the second could be a bit less thrilling unless you don’t like heights).

Typing the title for this post made me wonder – is the structure in the second photo actually a “Ferris Wheel”, or is it a “Big Wheel”? And is there a difference?

A quick search online brought this interesting page from the National Fairground and Circus Archive, which gives a overview of the history and development of such rides and states that the proper name is Ferris Wheel, even though George Washington Gale Ferris wasn’t the originator of such rides. His biggest claim to fame – at least in terms of building Ferris Wheels – probably came with the construction of the wheel that took his name at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, a construction that stood 264 feet tall and could carry 160 riders. It was intended to be an equal to the Eifel Tower.

The fairground ferris wheels that are commonly seen at travelling funfairs (as well as permanent fairs) are known as Eli Wheels, named after the Eli Bridge Company which manufactured them.

The Big One
Blackpool Central Pier

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023.

4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

Return to North Leverton Windmill

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As I wrote about yesterday, I visited North Leverton Windmill back at the start of the month. I shot five frames in total at the location, three of which are posted here today. The other two were both out of focus to some extent, which I put down to a combination of being in a meadow with slightly springy ground, and also because I was using a 90mm lens that I’ve got on loan at present. It’s a nice lens, but it’s huge compared to my 135mm, and the aperture locking switch is a little stiffer than my Fujinon, meaning there’s a risk of me moving the camera when operating it. I’m not sure if that was the cause here, but it’s something I need to take care with.

It was a hot day and there were few clouds in the sky most of the time I was at the site, although a few blobs of fluffy cumulus had started to appear when I took the two pictures of the windmill.

The people who look after the windmill were curious about my old-fashioned looking camera and asked lots of questions. The mill still produces flour, and is apparently the oldest windmill in the country to have seen continuous operation (it was built in 1813). They were even kind enough to set the sails in motion (even though that kinda made it more difficult to get pictures, it was great to see), and also to move the cars from the front of the mill (which you can see in the first shot), which was very nice of them.

Windmill
A house by a windmill
North Leverton windmill

Chamonix 045N-1. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 (second shot: Linhof Super Angulon 5.6/90 on Fomapan 100) & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 2 September 2023.

4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Sturton-le-Steeple

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I took a trip out with the Chamonix 4×5 camera last weekend. I had two reasons for doing so. The first was that I had some free time, the weather was nice (even if the skies were a little too clear this time), and I wanted to go out and take pictures. The second reason was to shoot some pictures without my yellow filter to see if I would still get any out of focus areas without it being used.

The answer to the second was that, no, I didn’t, which is a relief. I did get some out of focus areas, but these were ones that I can explain away to camera operator failure. 🙂

I went out to North Leverton Windmill and took five photos there, some of which I’ll publish here in due course. After photographing the windmill I headed over to Sturton-le-Steeple to shoot my final sheet of film, with the idea of photographing West Burton Power Station which sits a mile ot two away, taking advantage of the nearby River Trent.

I did take a picture of the power station but with the Bronica, which I’d also taken out with me, and which had my 150mm lens, giving a better view of the station (one day, I think I’ll go for a walk around the power station, and try to get some nice atmospheric pictures from closer range – there are a whole bunch of public footpaths surrounding the facility).

In the end, I shot my final sheet of Fomapan in the village itself, with the church as the subject, and it has come out quite well. A functional yellow filter might have added some more “pop” to the skies and, annoyingly, the new box of Fomapan I’ve just received appears to have the same issue with white speckles on the negative that I’ve encountered before, which means I now need to try and get a refund and the messing around that will entail. I think I might stick to Ilford film in future, even though the cost is higher.

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Sturton-le-Steeple

Chamonix 045N-1. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°

Taken 2 September 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A hot day?

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When this is published, I will be on my way home from a day-trip to London to see an Evelyn Hofer exhibition at The Photographer’s Gallery (and, if I’ve had time, a nosey around The National Portrait Gallery).

At the time I’m writing this (Friday evening) I must confess that the 32°C temperature that has been forecast for London on the day is not filling me with glee!

Anyway, apropos of nothing, here’s a random picture from back in 2016 that I took with the first Medium Format camera I owned – a Lubitel 166 Universal TLR. It wasn’t the best camera to use, but it could produce nice pictures nontheless.

FILM - My first roll of medium format-10

Lubitel 166 Universal & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed.

Taken 2016.