David Simper is known for his love of a photo walk, and blasting off some film in general, so it was with pleasure that he travelled down to the Solaris Centre on 3rd May 2025, to take part in this event, focused on the sights of South Shore.
I arrived at the Solaris Centre muster point in good time and to find several Blackpool Community Darkroom friends indulging in elevenses. After that repast, we sallied forth across the South Promenade road, stopping only to distribute and load film. I think most, if not all, were using analogue kit, but I’ll stand corrected.
Naturally I’ve done several passes in the South Shore area, one from January 2024 was recently published on this site, but the light is never quite the same and one always sees something new. Starting from Solaris, we were walking into the light, not text book, but good for seeing potential contre-jour pictures.
As I’ve remarked before, when I photograph ‘They shoot horses don’t they’, I wonder how many pictures have been taken of it over the years. The people around it make the difference.
In this case I’ve allowed myself two shots, one portrait, the other landscape. As people mill around, one could probably stand and shoot a roll just in this location. That ball always looks good against a strong sky.
Some of the public art, the Great Promenade Show, seems to have taken a holiday; the constant salt assault in this area is bound to eat through defences. The rotating fish tail gazebos are also in for a service. Never mind, Glam Rocks is still standing proud; does anyone know if this still lights up in the dark?
I do like a good perspective shot and lengths of railing give a good opportunity in this respect. Things are even better if there’s a giant mirror-ball to anchor the composition.
The salt eating everything creates a maintenance nightmare, but also adds interesting texture by deeply rusting these railings.
Here’s a positive image of cycling, a family taking advantage of the Promenade’s status as part of the National Cycle Network to take a little exercise on their bikes.
A grab shot at the Promenade’s end. A cyclist takes a breather and takes in the rather impressive view.
Kites and people help show just how big our beaches and particularly how big our skies are.
The sea wall design can be a little brutalist at times, but it’s got a job to do and it does it well. Not many such installations would have such a backdrop, including the Big One rollercoaster.
I hope these two don’t mind me ambushing them as they emerged into shot. The runner was working very hard to get her speed up; her sister (I think) was supporting by scooting on behind. They both came past me several times.
This article uses the very first photo of the day (tram tracks above) and here’s the last, the Glam Rocks framed by a break in the sea wall structure. Not a bad day’s work I would say. Once more, I’m not saying these are the best shots I took; they are the ones I like and the ones I’ve chosen to show you.
For those interested, I used a Yashica Electro 35 35mm film range-finder camera. It has a fixed 45mm, f1.7 lens. Given the light, I set the aperture to f11 and let the auto-exposure deal with the rest. I shot through a yellow filter, which has brought the sky in nicely, on Kentmere 400 black and white film.
With our film exhausted, or just exhausted, we retired to the Solaris Centre for, in my case, coffee and carrot cake. Thanks to Tim for the lift home after the bus went a bit weird. Looking forward to the next such event.
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