Having participated in another twelve months of the Tea Amantes photo walks and declaring his interest with three photographs in this exhibition, David Simper caught his usual service 61 bus to view his friends’ work and generally catch the vibe.
Big thanks go to Kenny McRae and team for coordinating the second Tea Amantes photo walks exhibition, showcasing 2025’s work. It’s no mean feat to gather work, select the pieces to be included, arrange the printing, sort the framing, do the hanging and put together the PR. Not to mention designing and printing the accompanying catalogue (on sale in the cafe and featuring everyone’s work).
This is a group of highly experienced photographers and one would expect the work to be to an extremely high standard. The exhibition does not disappoint and the pieces are fine examples of street photography, visualised and captured at lightning speed and with much skill in setting up the equipment. The eye always has it in this photographic environment; no camera is just going to do it for you. Most friends are now using digital, but there’s still film around. As a monochrome devotee, I was pleased to see I’m not the only one presenting work in black and white.
The group’s guided walks are led by experienced street photographers Stan Crook, Kenny McRae and Lee Cobbs, using the Tea Amantes cafe as a base. Walks are generally convened monthly, being promoted through the cafe’s social media. It’s excellent having a source of tea and cake prior to and after the walk. No matter how many times the group traverses a similar route, usually ending up on the promenade, there’s always something new as Blackpool’s ever changing face cycles through its season. The group documents this evolution; gathered together, its catalogue is an important visual social record. Participants find new ways to view and interpret the everyday.
There is a hard core of group members, but it’s good to see new and young people joining the walks; hopefully they will become regulars. A wealth of advice is available, from people who’ve been taking photographs seriously for decades.
