The harbour wall at Cullercoats

In the fastest photographic turn-around I've had in a long time, I'd like to share a couple of images taken just this past week while we were up north visiting family for our son's second birthday. The weather in Britain has remained stupidly hot and so we got to spend plenty of time on the beach, despite being in the north of England.

Cullercoats harbour/bay has become one of my favourite places to photograph over the past few years and I particularly love this southern arm of the harbour wall. I've got a small-but-growing collection of photographs focusing on this wall and the life that happens in and around it, though these two photographs are oddly the first I've got around to publishing so far. 

I can see this becoming a long term series: I always photograph the bay when I visit (a few times each year) and something about the setting of this side of the harbour wall just keeps drawing me back. There's almost always either interesting light or interesting people (and sometimes both) to be seen here and I love it.

Back to this week…

As soon as the weather gets reasonable, kids (and some adults) are out jumping off the end of the wall into the harbour. Aside from some idiots who carry on as the tide goes out, which is terrifying, it looks fun and it's great people-watching to see the dynamics play out as groups and individuals variously socialise and prepare for the plunge.

I really like the first shot (up top on this article), with the two lads psyching themselves up while a couple of younger boys hover on the sidelines and more hang out on the steps. With the bright sun, black and white worked really well here I think, pulling focus onto the actors in the scene rather than distracting with splashes of colour from things like the surf-/bodyboards off to the side.

I also really like this second shot, with someone actually making the jump. Again, while there's a clear entry point to the image with the teenager jumping off the wall, it's all the little sub-groups throughout the rest of the scene that hold the interest.