Sunbeams and showers, Lytham

For twenty years of my life I lived within two miles of the Lancashire coast. It was a time when I relished photographing the shoreline, the sea and the skies above it, and appreciated how the weather could transform very familiar photographic scenes. The beach at Lytham always had inshore fishing boats, tractors and buoys, and the view always had something of both the sea and an estuary about it. In this photograph I had my camera turned seawards, away from where the River Ribble enters the Irish Sea, because the sunbeams and showers off the coast made such compelling subjects.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus E-300     2005

Front doors, Fleetwood

In 2006, when this photograph was taken, I worked in Fleetwood, Lancashire. It was a visually interesting place with the sea, the port, the town, the marina, the River Wyre, and distant Barrow in Furness and Lakeland across the bay. Unsurprisingly I was frequently to be seen there with my camera. However, this particular photograph could have been taken anywhere in England. It shows part of the front elevation of a couple of houses composed of ready-made building components - bay windows, door surrounds, gate posts etc - that date from the late C19 or, more likely, early C20. It wasn't these that caught my eye though. Rather it was the beautifully painted red and green doors, probably contemporary with the rest of the structure, and the word "Ribblesdale" (the area of my upbringing) imprinted on the leftmost gate pier.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus E-300     2006

Seafront shelter, Cleveleys

I took this photograph in 2007 as extensive work was being undertaken on the sea-wall and defences at Cleveleys, Lancashire. As well as renewing and raising the wall that separated the beach from the both the promenade and road, a number of futuristic lights were being installed (see left). A further addition was circular shelters that also had a look of "tomorrow's world" about them, but were also redolent of the 1930s. More photographs of this striking design work can be seen here and here.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus E-500     2007