With great a sense of happiness when I saw that the challenge this week on the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is SEA. Living by the sea, my media library is overflowing with photographs. I have trawled through the photos and selected ones I have taken of my local beach and the sea.
I am not sure what the draw to living by the sea is all about. Maybe it is to do with one’s childhood. I lived by the sea in Wales for several years as a small child. Although my daughters did not live as close to the sea as I do now, we spent many weekends coming down to Worthing and that could be why both of them now live by the sea. I am not sure where or how I heard it but I do recall being told that the reason people need to be close to the sea is because they evolved from amphibians. Others who have no draw to the sea and are more than happy living inland evolved from land mammals. This, of course, may be a load of nonsense but it could explain a lot.
The first one was taken in March of this year when it had snowed, leaving a most unusual sight of snow on the beach.
From the 16th Century through to the early part of the 20th century Worthing had a busy fishing industry. Luckily fishermen still remain in business to this date. We are lucky that we can buy freshly caught fish from blue boxes on the beach. The small colourful fishing boats make for great subjects to photograph.
When looking at old Victorian photos of Worthing beach it is quite clear that it was a sandy beach. There is very little sand these days, it can be seen when the tide is out as far as it can go, otherwise it is a pebble beach. 19th-century timber groynes where built along the beach which caused coarse shingle to accumulate on the previously sandy beach. Most year shingle is added to the beach as a flood barrier and the slope from the land to the waters edge seems to get steeper as years go by. There are, however, some very interesting stones which you probably would not see if it were still a sandy beach.
When walking along the edge of the sea with a camera it is all too easy just to take photos of the sea without noticing that there are other things connected with the sea to photograph. We have a pier in Worthing and when the tide is out, it is fascinating to see the structure under the pier. This pier was built in 1862, and in the late 1800′s you could catch a paddle steamer from the end of the pier to Brighton pier which is 12 miles down the coast. The pier was damaged by a storm in 1913 and rebuilt in 1914.
I love to sit on the rocks and listen to the sound of the sea washing in and out over the shingle, looking as though it has been given and overdose of washing up liquid.
The sea never looks the same from one day to the next. It depends on the the sun, the time of the day and the wind. Sometimes is can be extremely rough and gray and other times as smooth as a mill pond and as blue as the sky above. The reflections of the sun as the sea ripples on to the water edge is magical.
I could fill this post many times over with photos but will leave you with ones above, which I hope you have liked looking at.
Please take a look at the Weekly Photo Challenge page and take a look at the contributions from around the world with their interpretation of SEA. Below are just a few links to the challenge just to start you off.
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