Prose

My poetic diversion didn't last long! Simply presenting things in literally is the best way to get across what something is like. The expanding saltmarsh is an example. Straightforward documentary landscape pictures show how the marsh grows. Viewpoint and perspective imply the sense of scale.

After getting to the beach late on my previous visits I tried to make an early start today, and rather than take a quick look and leave if there was nothing 'interesting' going on I had a good wander up and down. Apart from the inevitable dog walkers there was nothing happening so I took myself to the visitor centre, closed for the weekend. Like anything else that doesn't move in the dunes it is in danger of being buried by sand. Salt in the air is taking its toll on anything prone to rust too. After a bit of staring I manage to make a geometric picture.

Making my way back to the car I saw a couple of horses being walked down to the sands so I followed them. The horses were having a bit of a seaside break and enjoyed rolling in some dry sand and paddling in a beach pool. The least bad picture I made would have been better if the horses had been closer together, but that's working with animals for you...

Time had flown by and I was ready for something to eat, so I headed home. I could have sat down and started processing my mornings pictures but something made me get back in the car and head back to the seaside. I think it was a couple of conversations I had in the morning that prompted my return. It seems I'm not alone in thinking there is an agenda to get people, and horses, off the sands. The lack of vehicular access to the sands in winter, with inadequate off beach parking, is one potential clue. Another came to my mind when I read a recently published book about this stretch of coastline which devotes just a few pages to the use of the coast for recreation. With this in mind I'm feeling it's important to record the uses the beach is put to before the conservation Nazis put an end to them all. Paranoid? Maybe.

My return proved worthwhile. The sea retreats a very long way in places, making people who have walked out to its edge appear as tiny specks in the distance. By taking a photo and zooming in I realised one of these specks was digging lugworm. I've not had an opportunity to photograph lugworm digging before, although I have taken some distant shots of people using worm pumps. I tried to take some photos giving the sense of scale again. It does feel like the sand goes on to the very horizon when the tide is a long way out and you are well beyond the end of the pier.

This next shot could have worked well had i been using a longer lens, and if I'd managed to catch the flock of waders nearer to the bait digger. So a failure really.

Then I tried for some documentary pictures.

And finally a portrait.

Despite my dislike for planning what pictures I want to take for my projects I actually have a list of subjects for this beach project. That's as far as it goes, I don't have any preconceptions for what the pictures will look like. Lug worm digging was one of the subjects I thought would take some time to get, so it was well worth me going out again after lunch.

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