I had a worrying occurrence this morning when my PC suddenly stopped detecting my storage drive. It’s back up and running now – I think it might have been a loose connection and after opening the case and pushing the plugs into their sockets with my fingertips, it’s been working ok since. While my stuff is backed up, it’s prompted me to take on some extra assurance in the shape of additional backup processes. It’ll cost me more, but worth it for the peace of mind.
This guy hopped up on the harbour wall and scurried confidently back and forth, unperturbed by the drop into the sea on the other side. The tide was almost in at this point, and the drop was probably about 12-15 feet, so not too far to the water (and the sea was calm), but even with the variety of life-rings and people around, I still wouldn’t have fancied falling in.
Today’s picture shows the booking booth for the Yorkshire Belle, a pleasure boat that sails out of Bridlington on trips to nearby scenic points of interest such as Flamborough lighthouse, and the nature reserve at Bempton Cliffs where thousands of gannets roost.
The Yorkshire Belle was built in 1947 specifically to serve as a tourist boat and is the last of six such boats built to operate out of Bridlington between the 1920s and 1950s.
The boat’s future was put in jeopardy during the Covid pandemic when reductions in tourist numbers and social distancing rules meant she became unviable to operate and fundraising activity took place to prevent her loss. There’s an ITV Calendar news story covering the events.
There’s something about a bicycle, especially one propped against a fence, that seems to attract my eye. I don’t think I’m alone in this, and there are countless photographs of bicycles, both ridden and riderless to be found. I wonder if anyone has put down in words why they are a popular subject?
My own theory is that they make for a pleasing combination of geometric forms, a combination of circles, triangles and other polygonal shapes. They also make for interesting subject matter whether seen in full, or as detail – a wheel, a saddle, a chain for instance – and different points of view give even more variety – from the side, from the front, from above.
And once other factors are added to the mix there’s an almost limitless variety of pictures to be found. Every change of light, of type, of surroundings brings more into play.
The shot below is pretty simple. A bike leaning on a fence with the North Sea behind. I like the contrast of the dark bike against the bright railings. I also like the little incidental details caught by the shutter – the couple in the sea, the distant boat, and the kite that has fluttered into the edge of the frame.
The beach at Bridlington is backed by a sea wall along the stretch in front of the town north of the harbour area. This means there’s a good vantage point for looking down upon the sand and seeing the activities of the people enjoying the seaside, including writing messages in the smooth wet sand.
Despite my own spelling often being atrocious (albeit usually due to my inaccurate keystrokes, rather than an inability to spell), I seem to be quite good at seeing other peoples typos, such as the ones present in the first two pictures shared today. To be fair to the authors, it’s a lot easier to spot them from up on the promenade, than it probably is a beach level.
The third shot is spelt accurately, although it’s missing an apostrophe in “mums” and the spacing leaves a little to be desired. It’s not lacking in impact though, and I wonder what “mum” thought about the message?
Back to black and white again. The coming series of posts will be photographs I made during a day trip to Bridlington with my wife back at the start of August.
This shot seems quite grainy for FP4+, but I do like the light and the expansiveness of the beach, with the coast curving around to the distant promontory of Flamborough Head.
Steel City Snapper photography 