Hello World!!

Photography Queens Park, Layton Blackpool.

garden x 020

Yes – I like that tag line. Hello World!! Brand new blog here to start my own reach out of my photography, thoughts and other whims.

One of my initial ambitions was to be an author but oh how I love Photography and gardening (I can be found in my potting shed, should I not have a lens glued to my face).

I want to use this blog to showcase photography that does not quite sit with my events and documentary photography. I am originally from a Fine Art background and use photography to tell stories about people, passion and life. Follow me and my recommendations as I attempt to spin you a yarn and tell you a tale through words, pictures, dance, music and theatre.

Dreams and laughter, a sense of humor are important in life – and so I keep having to tell myself. Have we disconnected with ourselves as we become more and more obsessed with possession of things in modern suburban life? Do we become products of our surroundings – what do you aspire to? Recently I photographed Queens Park Layton, Blackpool as the new development goes up and the sky rises are scheduled to come down.

I hope the photographs tell their own story.

 

Queens Park, Blackpool.

How did it feel to leave here for the last time and move just around the corner?
How did it feel to leave here for the last time and move just around the corner?
There is nothing of value on these premises.
There is nothing of value on these premises.
Prior to demolition.
Prior to demolition.
•1947 58% of houses were rented from private landlords. In 1983 11% •475,000 homes were destroyed during WW2 – the post war Labour government accepted it had to build houses .
• 1947 58% of houses were rented from private landlords. In 1983 11%
• 475,000 homes were destroyed during WW2 – the post war Labour government accepted it had to build houses .
•the 1st multi story tower block was built in Harlow New Town •mid 1950s lower building standards introduced by the Conservative government – a subsidy was given to councils for high rise blocks.
• the 1st multi story tower block was built in Harlow New Town
• mid 1950s lower building standards introduced by the Conservative government – a subsidy was given to councils for high rise blocks.
The buildings take on a new sadness with broken windows.
The buildings take on a new sadness with broken windows.

Prior to demolition.
Prior to demolition.
Wishes and dreams grow up from the ground.
Wishes and dreams grow up from the ground.

Queens Park, Blackpool.

No Ball Games. No fun, no joy, no laughter. NO BALL GAMES - So the sign states.
No Ball Games. No fun, no joy, no laughter. NO BALL GAMES – So the sign states.
A New York Skyline? Concrete jungle.
A New York Skyline? Concrete jungle.

Broken record at Queens Park.

Enter continental pre-war modernist architecture, forged in the creative minds of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and others, and kept alive in the fertile minds of Britain's young architects, who had been plucked away from their studied enthusiasm for the new modernism to fight a war.
Enter continental pre-war modernist architecture, forged in the creative minds of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and others, and kept alive in the fertile minds of Britain’s young architects, who had been plucked away from their studied enthusiasm for the new modernism to fight a war.
Residents passing through new doorways after decades of the same.
Residents passing through new doorways after decades of the same.
Are the shapes of the building beautiful. Initial thoughts on sky rises were as a solution to housing.
Are the shapes of the building beautiful. Initial thoughts on sky rises were as a solution to housing.
Left derelict. daisy's push through. Nature finds a way.
Left derelict. daisy’s push through. Nature finds a way.

Compulsory purchase order.

Author: cjgriffithsphotography

I take Photographs - of Life, Love, Passion and People.

5 thoughts on “Hello World!!”

  3. I’ve passed these buildings lots of times and always thought them a bit of an eye sore but looking at these photographs stirs up a sense of serene sadness. You can almost hear the daily bustle of the buildings with people coming and going, the friendships built up over years and children playing together but now everything is bleak and dormant… Very nicely captured.

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  4. How did it feel to leave here for the last time and move just around the corner? – Answer – I owned the maisonette that you were stood outside when you took this picture. I left Blackpool when I sold it to the council. I now live in Doncaster and I feel much happier here. Ten years on Queens Park, many good people, not so many bad people, a few suicides from the top of the towers, a fire which killed two, many fights and stabbings, it was always interesting. I now live a peaceful far removed life from that crazy poverty stricken place. No sirens or helicopters hovering above chasing mopeds. It felt good saying goodbye.

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    1. Thank you very much for such a engaging response to the images. The flats will soon be gone – I think they were originally considered a good solution to housing and quite utopian? Those maisonettes were exceptionally sad I thought, the sadness mostly coming from the “No Ball Game” signs and the fortress feeling of it all. Thank you so much for making a comment xx

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