Can you believe that the below sunny day for Alex and Laura’s Brighton West Pier engagement shoot was only FOUR DAYS AGO, when today is very grey, sub-zero, and the views from my window as I type this are of the snow covered South Downs.
To many the West Pier is an eyesore, but the majority of Brightonians seem to still love it. The pier closed in 1975 when the owners filed for bankruptcy and couldn’t find suitable buyers. Between 2002-2003 storms and fires claimed most of the structure, leaving what you can see today. Which personally I think is something quite unique, and it’s a historic and impressive structure, that continues to defy the battering it regularly received from the winter seas!
I recently read Mark Haddon’s short stories novel ‘A Pier Falls’, and the titled short story set in 1970 and based on a collapsing seaside pier (that sounds just like Brighton in my opinion) certainly makes you appreciate the fragility of walking along planks of wood suspended above the sea and 1000 feet from the beach! I’ve always felt a bit queasy when looking down through the gaps as it is, and then I read this…
‘The noise, when it comes, is like the noise of a redwood being felled, wood and metal bending and splitting under pressure. Everyone looks at their feet, feeling the hum and judder of the struts. The noise stops and there is a moment of silence, as if the sea itself were holding its breath.’. Enjoy!!!!
Back to the shoot, and the joys of the old crumbled Pier- I love the shadows in these photos created by the pillars. The look like metal giants, or an industrial Stone Henge! The pop of colour from Laura’s yellow coat really adds to it too.
I’m so lucky to be a Brighton wedding photographer, and to have such variety and history on my doorstep. I photograph down on the beach regulary, yet I never grow tired of it, and it looks so different as the weather and light throughout the day changes. If you’re considering getting married in Brighton, I recently wrote a Brighton Wedding Venues Guide to help you.
