Being brought up in England with summer visits to the great British seaside, the memories tend to stay with you. This is possibly why I have spent so much time over the years taking photographs.
I have been documenting Bexhill-on-Sea since 1987 and also completed a study of photography using a vintage Kodak folding camera made in 1909. I did receive some very funny looks using this camera. I used Kodak Technical Pan, and with this camera being a 6×9 format meant the images were able to be enlarged without losing the quality. These images attracted some interest with the Bexhill Observer which featured an article on their front page, this in turn lead to an exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion for 3 months in the summer of 1990. I still have and occasionally use this camera.
You don’t seem to see deckchairs being stacked the way they used to. I was told and witnessed on my very early 4am visits to Bexhill-on-Sea – Hastings – Eastbourne – Brighton – that vandalism would bring a sharp end to this very British way of life. You can still see the beach huts scattered around the country.
Cumbria and the Lakes are also somewhere I try to visit as often as I can – Boat on the Misty Lake 1990.
I was on my way home from County Durham and was recommended to visit the Lakes. I was so pleased I took the advice. On my way through the Lakes, it was a quiet, still and misty November afternoon with absolutely no one around at all. Back then there were no road markings, so I could safely stop anywhere and all I could fix my eyes on was this boat moored in the middle of the lake.
England – from the south coast up to Cumbria in the north 1987 – present day
