Mirror Ball revisited

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

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.

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

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

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Blackpool North Pier

September 16, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Another quick post today as I’ve spent several hours driving to pick up my wife and sister-in-law from the airport, so I’m just going to drop this picture of Blackpool North Pier in here.

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

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Brilliance

September 14, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

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.

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

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Metropole

September 13, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A picture without words today (well, except for these).

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

September 12, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

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.

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

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Monochrome Ektar

September 7, 2023September 12, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The colours on these two Kodak Ektar pictures were very strange and I couldn’t get them to look right no matter what I did in Negative Lab Pro, Lightroom, or Photoshop. So, in the end I decided to convert them to B&W, which has worked quite well, I think.

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted to black and white in Lightroom.

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Blackpool Tower

September 6, 2023September 12, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

There will be several more pictures of Blackpool’s famed tower to come over the next few days. You have been warned! 🙂

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with negative lab pro.

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Coral Island

September 5, 2023September 12, 2023 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

Another Ekatar shot with slightly odd colours. There’s something off with the purples and greens in the shadows and midtones and, for some reason, the foreground road and pavement looks almost monochrome. It’s a shame as I like Ektar as a film and it normally scans just fine, but this roll has taken much more effort to get looking closer to normal.

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with negative lab pro.

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Blackpool North Pier (in colour)

September 4, 2023September 12, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Blackpool North Pier marked the spot where my roll of black and white film ran out (pictures still to come!), and where I switched to a roll of Kodak Ektar. The three pictures here show stuff on the pier, plus one shot of the view north from the pier. I cropped the third shot as there was quite a lot of uninteresting sky in the image and I felt it looked better without.

The colours are still a little off in these frames, but not too bad, I don’t think.

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with negative lab pro.

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Comedy

September 3, 2023September 12, 2023 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

If you walk along Blackpool promenade in front of Blackpool Tower, you will come across the Comedy Carpet. This is a section of the floor covering 1880 square meters that is packed with jokes, routines, and catchphrases from 850 comedians and writers. You cand easily spend a good hour reading through it all, hopefully letting out a few good laughs while you do.