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Storms at Brighton |
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The weather this month has been pretty rough, so it seemed appropriate that the picture feature should be about some Brighton storms in recent years. Nothing as dramatic as the tornado that hit Kensal Rise (of all places) last week, but the seas and winds on the South Coast can be pretty spectacular. A combination of gale and high tide tends to cause the most damage, as in December 2002 when the central section of the old West Pier collapsed into the sea and hundreds of people turned up on the beach to collect the bits. Global warming is going to increase the severity of winter weather in Brighton and everywhere else in Britain, so beach huts may not be the best of long term investments. |
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Last week's pictures looked at t-shirts |
| The pictures last week featured t-shirts. Ubiquitous and humble garments, t-shirts are the fast food of the fashion business and sell in their millions. They are also, it may be surprising to learn, guilty of contributing to both global warming and the exploitation of the developing world. The manufacture, distribution and final disposal of the average t-shirt consumes 1.5g of fossil fuel, emits 4kg of carbon dioxide and sends 450g of waste to landfill. Over its typical lifespan, it uses up 65 megajoules of energy in washing, ironing and drying. Then, in economic terms, the Chinese workers who make our t-shirts get paid just 43 pence a day, while shops in the UK can charge £10 for each one. You see some pretty awful stuff printed on t-shirts, but the things themselves, it seems, are even worse. |
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Recent pictures of the week |
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A fortnight ago the pictures were about beards. When I was a little boy and my mum took me out in the car with another child, she used to play a game with us that was based on beards. It was very simple. Looking out of the car windows, the first child to spot a bearded man would have to shout out "Beaver !". My mother would check to verify the sighting and the successful spotter got a sweet. A false claim meant the other child got the sweet. It wouldn't work nowadays, of course, and not least because of the Beaver aspect of it. Anyway, there are a lot more beards out there nowadays and you'd quickly run out of sweets. Sikhs have been in the news recently because many younger male Sikhs are shaving off their traditionally long beards in order to fit in more easily to Western society. That's a shame. Beavers of the world, fight back against the tyranny of Western conformism ! The picture set three weeks ago came from Saltdean on the Sussex coast. Although just one place among the many that make up the suburban sprawl running for miles to the east of Brighton, Saltdean does have a character of its own. The cliffs and beach are both impressive and there are also two very fine examples of English seaside architecture. The Ocean Hotel, sadly, is now closed and being redeveloped as apartments. But Saltdean Lido remains, just about, intact and functioning (at least in summer). Queen of the Lidos, she is a glamorous lady, still full of water even though there's moss in her cracks. Long may people be able to enjoy her. The pictures in this set were taken in November 2006. Four weeks ago the subject was public clocks. Now that everyone's got a mobile phone, there are fewer people wearing wristwatches and, you would think, even less need for clocks in public places. But there's still a lot of them around, although sadly most no longer work, let alone tell the right time. That's a shame, since we have a marvellous heritage of Victorian and Edwardian timepieces and they are a reassuring part of our urban landscape. It's also telling that in countries like Germany and Switzerland, where public clocks are remorselessly accurate, their trains and buses put ours to shame. The pictures in this set came from London, Brighton, Paris, Berlin, Shoreham and Worthing. Tempus F**it. |
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About this site and picture library |
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There are now over 48000 images in the library and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include t-shirts, beards, lidos, clocks, Central London, Brighton's North Laine and graffiti. The site has several ways to help make relevant and fruitful searches, including index pages for both subjects and events & places. There is also a useful search guide and information page. A good showcase of the type and range of photography available can be explored in the pictures of the week series. Published on the site since December 2001, this now totals more than 2400 images. Every week there is a set of ten pictures about a particular place, event or theme. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD, prices start from as little as £8 and there is further information on the prices and terms & conditions pages. You can also contact David Gray for quotations and availability for new photography commissions. |
