Blackpool Transport

1/20 F2.8 ISO800 NIKON D800 50mm

1/30 f5.6 ISO400 NIKON D800 50mm

1/30 f 5.6 ISO400 NIKON D800 50mm

Hello,

A few images of different transport along Blackpool Promenade.

In this post I have included the camera settings, as I wanted to illustrate the different shutter speeds used whilst panning to capture the moving vehicles. All images taken were handheld.

But I am sure you will agree when it works, the images look great and really isolate the moving vehicle in the blurred moving scene.

1/60 f1.4 ISO200 Fuji XT3 35mm

Blackpool Promenade at night

Hello,

Today id like to show a couple of recent drone images taken at night.

I hope that you are well.

Lee

Blackpool Tower at sunrise.

Hello,

Today is a quick one of an image of Blackpool Tower at sunrise.

I hope that you enjoy.

Lee

Another trip up Blackpool tower.

Hello, id like to share some images from another trip working up Blackpool's tower, repairing the illumination lighting at great height. 

Arrived to site early and so I walked the long way there. Was surprised to see early morning council worker cleaning the front. 

Ropes set, and decent underway. Always told "don't look down" but you have to in this game. 

Today repairs ongoing to the heart light. 

Sophisticated control gear, power the lighting on the Tower, helps it to change colour and be programmable.

A spectator while working at height. 

Thanks for viewing.

Lee

View from Blackpool Tower.

Blackpool football club Bloomfield road.

Hi following on from my last post. I thought i would share some images taken from the top of Blackpool tower. 

Pleasure beach. 

Winter Gardens Theatre.

Funny Girls burlesque cabaret showbar.

Roof tops.

Lancashire Ambulance service.

A towns taxi cab.

Offices.

Lytham road B5262.

Top of Blackpool Tower.

Have you ever wondered,  - how do they maintain the iconic lights on Blackpool Tower?

Well meet Wez Berry, the lighting engineer that looks after the famous Blackpool Tower and regularly abseils 518 ft down the iconic landmark, to ensure its computer-operated 225,000 LED bulbs are in working order.

The day starts early to catch the lift to the top. 

Wez's workplace has a view like no other. 

“You're your own boss up here, You can crack on and do your own work.”

The location is extremely weather dependent, with extreme winds and rain meaning it simply isn't safe to scale the Tower's dizzy heights. 

“If the weather's nice, we're on, and I'll work through weekends and bank holidays,” 

“The wind really does restrict us and you have to look at the forecast very carefully."

“You've got to come into work safe and go home safe – it's very much safety first and I always have a rope access supervisor in case anything happens to me up there."

"We work closely with CJIS-LTD who provide the highly trained rope access supervisors who manage the working at height, utilising IRATA techniques"

Wez -"we're working off 100 metre ropes. It doesn't scare me because whether its 20 feet or 500 feet there's no messing about and you've got to give it the same respect.”

Even when the lighting engineer is at home, he can see the Tower from his back window and he'll often get a call from work mates asking him to check on the lights.

“Plus everyone round here knows what I do, they love to criticise and tell me if they see a light out,”.

The tallest light fitting in Lancashire. 

The top is a mecca for tourists, who flock to the terrifying glass floor known as the SkyWalk. Often, they will catch a glimpse of Wez hanging underneath.

To illustrate just how high todays worksite was. 

For more information on how to conduct working at height safely please use the contacts page. 

If you are or interested in becoming a rope access technician or require additional training i can recommend this training venue Based in Blackpool. 

Thanks

Lee

Blackpool.

A couple of images that i can show on this blog, out with the family in Blackpool, yesterday afternoon.

Fuji X-T1 1/280th F 7.1

Fuji X-T1 1/9000th F2.8

IRATA rope access training course.

Big apologies for not having a post for some time now, 

with work, the new house and the baby, my hands are pretty busy, 

but i couldn't be happier. 

I am planning a trip to the Brecon Beacons in the near future, which i am super excited about,

Here are some images i snapped on a recent rope access course. I was refreshing my IRATA Level 3's ticket and so was in for a weeks beasting!!

I can highly recommended the training over at

C&J training in Blackpool. The training centre comes under the Talon umbrella and John is a great trainer there. 

It was an informative week. I understand a few of you are photographers. This post has no relevance to you? 

But ask your self - How many times are you at work, and at height? up step ladders? on roofs? hanging out of a window? I know even you wedding photographers are guilty of this. This course is not for you, but take some time and look at the working at height guidelines. Hurting yourself is just not worth it. no work - no cash right?

Say your assistant takes a tumble, your insurance will turn their back if nothing is in place. Say good bye to your business, once you pay out the court fee's and the settlement. 

Here is what the HSE say about it. Thanks for reading. 

Ronin Ryu Atemi JuJitsu, Martial Arts Club.

A mate of mine runs a martial art club in Blackpool. I loved the idea of trying to catch some natural shots of the guys, and girl - doing they're thing.

I didn't want to use a flash on this shoot so I could fit in better and try to be unnoticed.

Scot who runs the Club is a fantastic teacher, very clear and puts things into perspective, so everyone can understand. 

The people who train there are great, there are no ego's, 

all just want to train hard and enjoy it.

Scot runs self defence and fitness classes also.

They dont have a site as such but they are contact able via their

facebook page. 

Tower to Tower bike ride.

I previously mentioned how i was networking on the internet with photographers,

Well I have been chatting with a

Paul Brown

, who's work is simple stunning!

Paul said soon he will be in town, Great!

He then went on to why he would be visiting Blackpool,

Paul was taking part in the Eiffel Tower to Blackpool Tower charity bike ride.

(Yes, push bikes!)

Here is an image of Paul back in Blackpool,  Well done!

and then we hit the bar.......

The Big Blackpool Photo Shoot.

Through the world of facebook, i have made quite a few contacts locally,

I was chatting to a make up artist who was doing some work on an organised shoot, she told me to contact the guy running the show.

I gave Greg the photographer (his Flickr) who's idea this was a shout, to see what was going on,

He studies photography at Blackpool university, he and a group from the university are going to have a play in Blackpool. He managed to book the pier and Blackpool's world famous Tower ball room. Greg liked my documentary style of work and so I would document the event, which I love doing.

It really was a fun day, I love meeting new people and was great to talk to all the photographers, who were studying photography, about their course.

I made some good contacts and some new work is in the pipeline.

Waiting for the Weather is worth the wait!

For the weather shots, i wait for the conditions to turn what i feel is right for me.

I know roughly what time the sun will set and so I check each evening to see if the sky looks interesting.

Before going out to shoot, if the conditions are right, a recce is a must. As you only have a small window of time and fumbling around in the dark makes it easy to lose equipment.

Ok - now you know what and where you want to be... starts the waiting game....

This evening the skies were all red and looked really interesting and so off out i went.

Here are a couple of the evening.