I had a number of reasons for this little trip to town on 12th November. Dropping into the Hive Arts Collective gathering, joining the Tea Amantes tea room and gallery team for its first birthday celebration and shooting a roll of 120 film, because I like to do that. For a change, these all came to pass and it was a thoroughly nice time, and I got some decent photos.
There was a good gathering at The Hive for the gathering. Discussion surrounded the approaching Christmas events and of course local arts stuff in general. The Hive cafe provided the usual excellent refreshments. My twin lens reflex film camera caused a little stir. These are still one of the best types for me, the waist-level finder being excellent for candid photography.
From The Hive to Tea Amantes on Albert Road. The team was bedecked with party hats for the birthday celebration. It was quite busy and the back to the wall seats were gone. I enjoyed my usual cheese melt sandwich for lunch with an excellent white tea, the latter something of a rare spare. I would have bought some for home, from among the extensive leaf tea range, but it just hadn’t been packaged up at that time.
And now to the photography. I had a little plan, prompted by Brendan Bunting’s piece on public art in Blackpool particularly ‘Call of the Sea’. That piece was criticised for cost, but it was funded from a project dedicated to public realm enhancement, which surely must include public art (and tree planting) and which can’t be used for general expenditure. Having sat painting near ‘Call of the Sea’ previously, I knew how fond people are of this piece and how attractive it is to people taking selfies or just posing by it.
I was determined to get some pics of people doing this. Working my way down Albert Road from Tea Amantes, I crossed onto the Promenade and walked north towards Talbot Square, grabbing some people shots as I went. Seeing my camera, a guy decided I must be serious and asked me to take a shot of him, which I did. Otherwise, the waist level finder seemd to make people oblivious to what I was doing.
Reaching Talbot Square I occupied one of the stainless steel tram benches, funded from the same project as ‘Call of the Sea’, and trained the camera. It only took about twenty minutes to secure the four shots you see here. People love this piece and in my view, it’s well worth the investment and we should be doing more of this kind of thing.
While I was sat there and older gentleman did spy my camera and came over to tell me he’d had one the same and considered it the best camera he’d ever had. Mine might easily be sixty years old; I hope we can keep them repaired and keep using them. I’ve been asked about film; at the moment it’s no problem to get hold of.
With my twelve frames exhausted (an ideal number for a plan like this), I ambled up to Funny Girls to catch the service 4 bus home. A very nice little interlude and I hope some good photographic results.
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