Blackpool Street Photographer
THE EXHIBITION OF PHOTOS BY DAWN MANDER 01.08.2022 – 05.09.2022 This weekend I went to Blackpool with a couple of friends I met on a photo walk in Liverpool. I should stop saying that because they are friends now, with or without a previous walk. I can’t see us ever not being friends 🙂 Anyway, […]
‘STAGEFRIGHT’ — Camera Go Camera
Sometimes, oftentimes, especially on this wonderful coast, the light of the spring sunset hits just right, catching the windows of deserted hotels and lighting the walls of their empty spaces. Closed and shuttered now, the ghosts of spring times past walk empty breakfast rooms.
A very different view of the U.K’s favorite seaside town, famous for its Tower, Pleasure Beach, Illuminations, family holidays, Stags & Hens parties, and rowdy nights out, Blackpool is very quiet this spring time.
There is however a strange poetic beauty in the stillness and quiet, giving me the opportunity to capture these fabulous buildings and the empty streets that seem, one way or another, to all lead to the coast.
Maybe its the nostalgia of growing up in Blackpool and spending endless days on the beach, swimming in the sea and eating bags of salty chips that inevitably got covered in sand but still tasted so good.
Blackpool will forever be my home ’cause as I always say “you can take the girl out of Blackpool but you cant take Blackpool out of the girl”.
Images from June 2018
Probably the most looked forward to event of the year, for me anyway, always guaranteed a great time with wonderful people. Sadly wont be happening this year but that can only mean next year will be better than ever.
Visiting friends and family during these difficult times.
Blackpool 2020
Canon AE1, 50mm lens & expired (2012) Agfa colour film
Always try to stay unnoticed when shooting on the street, prime lens, no big camera bags, clothes that will allow me to fit in and blend with the public, never staying for too long in one place and practically marking a path in the well worn streets that I often walk…So when I went out with the Canon last week I was scuppered!
Had forgotten the sound of the shutter was so loud, making people turn to see where the sound came from, this made candid street photography very difficult and so decided there are plenty of other things to capture in Blackpool without scaring the locals & holiday makers.
And so off I went in search of old signs, sadempty hotels with deserted dining tables set for breakfasts and giant ice cream cones, I love the soft grain and the colours of these expired Agfa films which makes me think this could be something I do more frequently.
Sat in local coffee shop drinking tea, as one does in a coffee shop, anyway I sit near the window because the light is fabulous and often times something to see..
..and see something indeed I did, through the thick glass of the cafe window across the pavement and through another window I saw a girl sat with her mum waiting for her bus journey to begin. 
Then she saw me too and squashed her face against the window and I got my shot of the day.
The bus left and I sat there happily drinking my tea knowing I had caught a great expression from the girl on the bus.
Risking life and limb on grass verges to capture the wonderful wild flowers that grow on the verges.
No reason other than I like the absence of advertising..
Dawn Mander 