Naturally it’s tempting to always photograph the nice parts of Blackpool. The sea views, the sculptures, the park, the Tower. But behind all that lurks some interesting and invaluable squalor.
I thought I’d stick a roll in my Yashica 635 twin lens reflex and do a little photo essay on Blackpool’s backstreets.
Remarkably nobody seemed to think I was mad (which of course I am) doing this. One chap remarked on my ‘old’ camera. It might be 60 years old I suppose – I should check the serial number.
The crucial thing is it works and particularly with my favourite HP5 (other films are available) loaded up, it gives results to match and better than any digital camera, although it’s less instant due to processing time.
So 19th March 2023, Mother’s Day, I set off on the service 3 bus on my little mission. Starting at the Strand, I set an exposure using a phone app meter I’d downloaded. There’s an app for everything nowadays.
The great question plaguing so many photographers over the now centuries, is ‘what do I take a picture of now?’ Well, I would say just get out there with a camera and a film and pictures will appear, even if it’s a place you’ve been many times before – the light will always be slightly different.
I try and avoid photographing people – they have egos and think they’re being papped. I don’t fancy losing a whole film to that.
Naturally as I walked round, I did see other non-backstreet shots, like the closed hotels facing the library and the now to be refurbished post office building, but I think I kept to the brief reasonably well.
The Tower must be the subject of tens of thousands of photos a year, so you’re not going to get something truly original of it. However, these secret, almost shameful, areas are rarely considered photo-worthy and there’s the faint whiff of something original. Then there’s their shadows and the stuff in them making for some interesting compositions.
Without the jumble of bins and vents and fire escapes crammed into these spaces Blackpool could not function. This shoot is also a tribute to waste management facilities, or as you might say – bins!
I thoroughly enjoyed doing this shoot and while not the most beautiful set of images I’ve ever done, I would say they are among the most interesting. My twelve shots were expended before I’d got all the opportunities available, so that’s a jump off for season two.
Following all this exciting walking around and photography, I repaired to Upside Down cafe for a light repast. There there was another observation of the camera, from someone used to people with Rolleiflexes; mine’s the poor-person’s Rolleiflex. Other cafes are available, but do they do white tea?
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