Thursday 6 February 2014

The end of the pier show


A strange thing happened the other day when I went for a walk in Clacton on Sea. I went along the walk by the sea, not the most beautiful coastal path, with its concrete sea defences.




The wind was very strong and so I decided to go to the end of the pier. Seaside piers, in photography, fall into the same category as sunsets, markets and families awkwardly huddled together, grinning inanely at the lens. I switched off my camera and wandered around in the sunshine blasting myself with the abundance of negative ions.

Until I spotted some interesting reflections:





And this:







3 comments:

  1. Very nice -- I can see I'm going to have to try harder... If you don't know it, check out the work of Saul Leiter, especially the "Early Color" book. He is the master of indirect street photography.

    Mike

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    Replies
    1. Well, thank you. Just got back from the cinema after seeing 'Philomena.' I mention this because Steve Coogan's character uses the same TS Eliot quote near the end of the film. Spooky as Dame Edna would say.
      Will check out Saul Leiter. I'm afraid I'm a real traditionalist when it comes to photographers. Cartier Bresson, Ansell Adams, Irving Penn, those sort of people and of course the pioneers of the nineteenth century. Time to broaden my horizons it seems.

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  2. You'll notice that those guys worked in monochrome, often with cameras bigger and heavier than a portable TV... You should check out some of the influential modern greats of colour -- N. Americans like Willam Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz, Richard Misrach, Saul Leiter, andf Stephen Shore, plus Brits like Jem Southam and Paul Graham.

    Mike

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