After the rain

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PHOTO
A holiday-maker on Blackpool's central promenade looks at the clearing sky, from beneath an ornate shelter, after the rain has passed.

QUOTO
"Love comforteth like sunshine after rain"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatist (from "Venus and Adonis")

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Focal Length: Zoom at 44mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/1600
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen

Rusted heart

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PHOTO
This rusty heart, with its surround of spikes is a detail of a sculpture on Blackpool's south promenade. It is by Chris Knight, and is called "Desire".

QUOTO
"There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish dramatist

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Focal Length: Zoom @ 64mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.7
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 100
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photograph (c) T. Boughen

The Casino

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PHOTO
The most noticeable building in Blackpool is the 519 feet (158m) Tower. However, the best building, in my opinion, is the gleaming white Casino with its curved facades, built in 1939 by the architect Joseph Emberton.

QUOTO
"The world is a gambling table so arranged that all who enter the casino must play and all must lose, more or less heavily in the long run, though they win occasionally by the way."
Samuel Butler (1835-1902), English novelist and writer

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Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: Zoom @ 22mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f10
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen

The Globe Theatre

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PHOTO
The Globe Theatre at Blackpool has a fascinating facade of curved metal, tinted various colours, that reflects the surrounding fun fair, casino, promenade and sky.

QUOTO
"Theatre is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theatre."
William Ralph Inge (1850-1954), English author, churchman and professor

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Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: Zoom @ 136mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f10
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen

Curves

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PHOTO
This curving metal "whale tail", on Blackpool's South Promenade, is a 26 feet high wind vane that rotates a bench so that the occupants are always sheltered from the sea breeze. The wind is no problem for the passing gull!

QUOTO
"The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators"
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), English historian

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Focal Length: Zoom @ 28mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f11
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen

Cross-bracing

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PHOTO
The damp, dark, dripping forest of iron legs and braces that is the underside of a Victorian pier such as Central Pier, Blackpool, has its attractions. Bold shapes, silhouettes, reflections and interesting light offer photographic opportunities of the minimalist kind.

QUOTO
"The more exponential the marketing of images is growing, the more fantastically grows the indifference towards the real world. Finally, the real world becomes a useless function, a collection of phantom shapes and ghost events. We are not far from the silhouettes on the walls of the cave of Plato."
Jean Baudrillard (1929-2006), French cultural theorist and philosopher

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Focal Length: Zoom @ 90mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen

Neon bar

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PHOTO
On a pier at Blackpool, Lancashire, not a pub but a bar. So, no hand-painted sign illustrating the name of the establishment, UK-style, but a glowing neon tube, US-style.

QUOTO
"A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says, "A beer please, and one for the road."
Anonymous

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Focal Length: Zoom @ 124mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f9
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen

Sea-side seating

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PHOTO
This ornate cast-iron seating - all scrolls and dolphins - follows most of the perimeter of Blackpool's 1,118 feet (339m) Central Pier, and doubles as railings. It dates from the pier's opening in 1868.

QUOTO
"Ornament and structure were integral; their subtle rhythm sustained a high emotional tension, yet produced a sense of serenity."
Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), US architect

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Focal Length: Zoom @ 162mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f9
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen

Working on "The Big One"

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PHOTO
Three workmen maintaining one of the lower (but still quite elevated) sections of "The Big One", the 213 feet high roller coaster at Blackpool, Lancashire.

QUOTO
"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. The quotations, when engraved upon the memory, give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more."
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British Prime Minister

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Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: Zoom @ 268mm (35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7EV

photograph (c) T. Boughen