Buy a copy of View of Blackpool and The Lakes

I appreciate this isn’t astrophotography related, but a camera and 300mm lens was used. It just happened to be daytime and it was pointed horizontally!

I recently took a landscape photo of Blackpool, set to a backdrop of the snowy peaks of The Lake District. It garnered enough attention that with thanks to National Park Print Shop based in The Lake District, we have decided to sell copies and give the proceeds to two charities close to our hearts: Parenting 2000, a local charity that helps kids with emotional and mental issues – something unfortunately very prevalent through Covid restrictions, and Rosemere Cancer Foundation where my wife and hundreds of others work helping save lives through treatment of cancer at The Royal Preston Hospital. After a year of sales, we raised over £3,000 for charity! This photo is no longer being sold for charity.

Purchase

A4, A3 and A2 are available from National Park Print Shop Here: https://nationalparkprintshop.com/products/view-of-blackpool-and-lakes-fells-from-southport

Where and how it was taken

I am fortunate to live a short walk to the Sefton coast. Passing a couple of famous links golf courses in my home village of Birkdale, it’s not difficult to be spoilt by gorgeous views on a clear day. Sunday was such a day. Unfortunately, my wife was volunteering in critical care at Preston Hospital but called me to take my exercise in the direction of the coast to see the view. I took my camera and headed down Weld Road to the beach. I took my Nikon D750 with Nikon Nikkor 70-300 ED VR AF-P lens and took a few handheld shots. The VR capability of the lens really helped, but it was a bright day, clear day, so shutter speed was fast to not warrant a tripod. Not sure getting a tripod out and taking landscape images warrants as exercise, so I was lucky it wasn’t needed.

This was my location, shooting slightly to the left of the Ribble Estuary towards Blackpool with the Lakes in the background.

A great website/app called Peak Visor gives a fantastic annotated view of the peaks in the image. Scafell Pike is clearly visible, and according to Google Maps it is at a distance of 56.75 miles from my spot. Blackpool Tower is a mere 12 miles from that spot. I remember a hovercraft service that I never went on growing up as a kid in Liverpool that serviced Blackpool from Southport if memory serves me correctly – which beats the hour long trip following the coast by road!

I tidied up the image – nothing more than crop and adjust the contrast/lighting in Adobe Lightroom – pretty normal activity from back of camera to presenting.

I’m genuinely overwhelmed with the appreciation for this image. It was a lovely sight and I’m glad we can all appreciate the views of the region on crisp, clear days like this one. If you would like a copy of the photo – visit https://nationalparkprintshop.com/products/view-of-blackpool-and-lakes-fells-from-southport