lol! Thats alot of overacting or maybe he got himself a new pair of shoes ;-) Nice timing, good shot!

What Ashish says aboutthe shoes seems right. But if you ingore the water near his feet, it seems he had one too many Johnie Walkers.

Great shot.

It's a good capture!

ha ha - little twerp - hope the next wave engulfed him

Nicely observed but this doesn't do anything for me for some reason. Apart from the slightly wonky horizon, the only individual reason I can find is that the position of his legs looks natural but the position of his arms less so, like he's doing the "I'm a little teapot" dance. Sorry I can't offer any more constructive criticism than that.

Yep, he may be a lover but he ain't no dancer.

Humorous shot. The color tone doesn't seem to fit the light-hearted nature of the subject, but that might just be me.

i love those railings

Hmm, I notice you were well back for this one....! Your subject did better than me - face full of water down the coast at New Brighton. I wonder if it needs a touch more water to tell the story completely - framed a touch more to the left? I do like the zigzag lines of fence, promenade and pier, none of them square and all of them conspiring to tip yer man a bit further over.

Hmm, (http://www.schneideroptics.com/filters/filters_for_still_photography/neutral_density) Schneider Optics still lists the 113 on their website. Did they tell you that they were no longer manufacturing this filter? Or did a store?

The only place I could find that shows a price list item for the 77mm version of this filter is at The Filter Connection (http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/bwnd.html), and they seem to offer shipping to Europe.

Other than that, I couldn't find much out there for this item. Might be one of those things that you have to keep an eye on eBay for.

dave ma man, you are the bomb diggity.... this is a heck of a shot....how do you get your black and whites so nice? how do u have this goldish color to it? is it sepia? I asked you this a few days ago and you said you should take some more photos but than you gave me a "they are a little sick" excuse well considering you have taken pics of them crying and all sorts of ther things why not when they are sick? runny nose? maybe even when they are sneezing? hahhaha

BTW, since you are being coy as to the use you intend for the filter. Do you absolutely need to go as dark as the 113? Or would stacking a pair of 106's to get to a 3.6 density get you enough of an f-stop reduction for your purposes? I mean, it's a pain to have to double up the costs (plus more likelihood of optical interference), but it would be an option and the 106 is still readily available in the 77mm size.

Just a thought.....

I thought he went to Gloucester, it doesn't rhyme well with Blackpool, infact what does. never trust a man who irons his jeans with a crease down the front, he probably still lives with his mother. Anyway the image is a little over sharp/contrast/shiney on the railings for my liking they look odd. And it is not obvious what he is doing/avoiding he may just be practicing his urban american strut or listening to very inspiring music in his headphones. I think this shot would be dismissed much more readily on another site.

Your photos always make my 6AM start at work just a little bit better, so I thought I would go on the hunt for your filter. I just got off the phone with a photo shop here on the west coast of the US, and they have a 77mm thread B+W neutral density 113 filter in stock for $147.99. They are called Kenmore Camera, and are a quite reputable shop (I had to check with a friend in Washington, as I’m down here in California). Their site is: http://www.kcamera.com/ . Here’s their information. 18031 67th Ave Ne Kenmore WA 98028 Telephone number 425-485-7447 or toll free 1-888-485-7447. I had the lens placed on hold, just to make sure that it doesn’t disappear in case you aren’t able to find it anywhere locally (I’m thinking perhaps not since Germany is out too).

You can call them at the number above and ask for Chad if you’re interested. If it hadn’t broken my budget for good deeds for the week, I would happily have purchased it for you, as your photos truly amaze and I wanted to show you how much I appreciate your work. I’m a sucker for Lyonel Feininger paintings, and every once in a while you put up shot that takes me to the first time I first saw his bird cloud painting, which is really one of the first times I remember being truly excited about art.

Best wishes,

Christian

Well now, it depends on how far he was from home and what his plans were following this stroll. Spending the rest of the day in wet shoes and socks is a bummer. But, whatever the reason, it made for a great shot! Love all the wet reflections. I see drainage grates, so this must happen regularly.

very cool textures with the puddles. Pretty rough day out there!

Nice shot! Lovely angle!

I love the almost silver tone to this, perfect processing. You 've captured a brilliant moment Dave.

Timeless...reminds me of the 60's/70's.

Jamey: I've fixed the horizon - thanks for pointing it out.

Robert: you might be right, a different tone might have suited this one a bit better ... I'm not sure.

Zeppo: thanks, but 2filter.com didn't have it in stock. And yes, I would prefer the 113 rather than a pair of 106's ;-)

john: don't worry, I'll get back to photographing them soon.

Keith: every now and then someone wonders if the more mundane shots I post would receive comment if posted elsewhere. And I guess, in some cases, the answer is probably no. However, i) I do get a lot of traffic each day (about 4k unique visitors) - so it's not surprising that even my very worst efforts get a small response, and ii) a comment (or amount of comments) doesn't mean that it's necessarily an especially great shot. People drop by each day, and say hello. As for this shot: it's just something I spotted and recorded, that I feel has some merit. It's certainly not great art, but nor did I feel like relegating it to my archive without sharing it first.

Christian: thanks, I've spoken to them and ordered it :-))))

micki: it's not all that often that the sea breaches the wall, but the spring tides make it a little more likely.

Thats definately the kind of reaction you'd see after a few Blackpool sherberts!
Which doctor foster did you have in mind? I'd have said Fosters but don't know where the doctor comes in.

m: the children's nursery rhyme one:

Doctor Foster,
went to Gloucester,
in a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle,
right up to his middle,
and never went there again.

;-)

Give the guy a break! Maybe he was just suprised... how'd YOU like to walk around with a soggy left shoe for the rest of the day? :)

omg. that rhyme! its been a while.
when i first saw the picture, i was like, "what on earth is he doing?"
and then i noticed the caption.

haha! love it!

Beautiful b&w shot! Great tones and contrast.

The reflection and movement is great!

Beautiful tones here, Dave. Great shot. This one does a lot for me!

how do you get this kind of tone???

I'm not sure why the guy's reaction seems "exteme". I can't seem to figure out what he's doing, other than it looks like he's just thrown something over the railing. You say the waves are cresting the sea wall, but there's no sense of that here. This seems to be a basic photo-journalistic shot and, while the contrast and composition are good, there doesn't seem to be a connection to a story, like in most of your shots.

nice beige tone in this shot, very nice and sharp :)

very good

I just love this, simple as that.

of course your timing was fantastic, but what attracts me the most is his position: if you'd cut him from the background, you'd swear he was dancing some kind of wild hip-hop...
well it would be a shame not to cut the barrier with him, it would look like a tablature! ;)

groovy!

Which side was this cropped from dave? ... It would have been nice to see the see coming over the edge if you have that in shot.

All in all though its a nice image.

Love the tone of the image and the contrast. I think it's perfect! I like your people shots and really it just doesn't get more spontaneous that this... :).

Great contrast and choice of colors. You captured the moment perfectly.

When I was younger (about 15 years ago), we used to go to blackpool each year for the illuminations (well not just that but you know what I mean).
The sea always managed to break the wall, splashing up onto the pavement! Thise times are something that I really remember about my childhood.

I suppose this is just another reason why I like your photography :)

This is another excellent shot, agreat high contrast and DOF ;)

Wow, Christian, that was so very kind to go to such efforts.

And a very good shot here too.

Dear David, I just cought up your little debate. I could not agree more with you. I think digital photography is different medium from analog. Both with their advanages and disadvantages, so therefore approach is different. To me digital offers bit more possibilities for express something. Photography has never been just recording. If it was, it could never be associated with art. Tings are changing with digital. Those who cannot adopt or expand their point of view are now pissed off.
You are bringing something new, so try to unerstand those "others". I would not take their comments to seriously because there is so much good response from other people. Please keep on this very, very good work you started...

I was not particularly commenting on the quality of this image it is still a good shot and is amusing, I was rather reflecting on the whole photoblog and especially photoblog.org community. There are those out there actively marketing pretty average sites as something they are not and there are sites such as yours that get deserved recognition, there are many who post snaps or their own obscure view of the world but there are many who are trying to improve and listen to honest critique that would possibly have a different response from commenters than you have from this.

This site is a blogging phenomenon(?) and as such seems to get either over harsh or too sacharin gushy comments, you dont get many middle ground comments. I have seen previous debates here about posting shots out of your 'normal' style and about maintenance of a high standard etc. many of us temper our comments depending on who has made the post. I dont like to be over critical of someone who is clearly starting out and experimenting nor would i want to make anything other than suggestions as to how i see an image. I am not an expert and have not had a 'photography eductaion' so i come at it as an amateur who enjoys thinking about my work as well as others. I do have a knack for not expressing myself well in comments and tend to aggrevate a number of people in what i meant as a harmless/humourous/honest comment.

In summary my comment on the railings stands as it is how i see it but I am not sugesting you are posting rubbish and getting away with it.

nice moment n nice shot ... thnks

ha, looks like he is slipping to me.

Modern day interpretation of singing in the rain.

Great shot Dave

JD: When you used to go to Blackpool as a kid - did you have a blanket on your knees in the back of the car for when you went to sleep on the way home ;-) Ours was tartan

Thanks everyone :-)

Sounds like we are about to witness the 'depopulation' of Blackpool since 13 stops of ND should allow you to make a 30 second exposure at F11 and ISO 100 in the midday sun. I'm sure the tourist board would not approve ~:-)

I am very,very,veryyyy,enjoy the sense of pic!