I have previously alluded to how context might imply the visual future, or indeed the past, for Rye Harbour. Here inspiration is taken from a quote from Barry Yates at the Friends of Rye Harbour AGM: “there is no doubt that the nature reserve will be washed away one day”.
This can be reflected quite simply as:
I was unsure whether to work in b&w or colour for this (it might depend on the final format of any exhibition if it were to be included), ending up partially desaturating the image which I hope retains the symmetric drama inspired to a degree by Sugimoto (https://photography515050.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/hiroshi-sugimoto/) while retaining a hint of blue-green colour particularly at the horizon.
Symmetry also exists temporally, since this is how Rye Harbour was 1000 years ago before the River Rother changed course or photography was invented:
Although simplistic, these visual ideas (perhaps displayed side by side to mimic the white and red stone presentation) could be displayed next to each other to make a point. Of course a different seascape could be used for one, although it is possible that using the same view makes the point more directly.
I previously wrote about using AI to try and recreate “an archipelago of precisely sixty islands each one surmounted by a rock, with an eagle’s nest on top” – a quote from Nennius, writing in the 9th Century AD describing Romney Marsh in Roman Times (from the introduction to Romney Marsh and the Royal Military Canal by Fay Godwin and Richard Ingrams). My experiments were not particularly fruitful (see https://photo515050level3.wordpress.com/2023/04/06/7-man-made-islands/).
However while walking the other day further west along the coast at Bognor Regis, I was reminded of this scene by the following view:
So in fact my answer came closest not from the virtual world on the internet but from sampling real life experiences. In a further twist, while the obvious thing missing from my image above is the eagles, these may return due to the management of the natural … https://www.wealdtowaves.co.uk/article/a-majestic-comeback-white-tailed-sea-eagles-south-east/?utm_source=mailerlite&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-07-24&utm_campaign=+Your+Summer+Weald+to+Waves+Update+Blue+Spaces … a current project to reintroduce white-tailed or sea eagles back to the South Coast yielded the first chick born in England in 240 years. Sitings have occurred at RSPB Pulborough Brooks not 15 miles from where my photograph was taken.
Level 3.1 Learning Log 