Beach pollution is this week's feature

Shipwrecked timber piled up on Brighton beach in January 2008 (image 2750-34)

Washed up on the beach is the subject of this week's picture set. The coastline of Britain has been littered with flotsam and jetsam for centuries, but the volume and variety of stuff is greater than ever nowadays. There's more junk being shipped around the world and people are just too casual about what they chuck in the water. A couple of weeks ago, a ship carrying pine planks was wrecked in the Channel off the Dorset coast and the currents brought most of the cargo ashore on the beaches of Sussex. Police were posted by the piles to prevent people taking away the wood, which seems a bit mean since the cargo was doubtless insured and there's a fine history of harvesting washed-up goodies. The government's always telling us to recycle more, so after the next winter storm, get down to your local beach !

Animal sculptures last week

Last week's picture subject was animal  sculpture alfresco - statuary and models of a variety of animals outdoors in parks and gardens. It's a nice cheerful subject and this library has a good range of other images about outdoor sculpture and art. You might like to also see the earlier sets on brighton statues, graffiti animals, sand sculptures and public statues.

Sunbathing, sheep and murder in recent picture sets

It was dark and dreary January, reputedly the time of year when we feel worst about everything. The rain seemed to have been coming down for weeks, so what better way to lift the spirits and ban the January blues than with the picture feature a fortnight ago - sunbathing. Roll on spring and summer.

After the previous gloomy feature about murder (see below), what could have been more gentle and unthreatening than the subject three weeks ago - sheep. Actually, when you look at their heads and eyes close-up, sheep are pretty weird looking. If they were three or four times larger, we'd all be pretty scared of them. There are more than 33 million sheep munching their way across the fields and hillsides of Britain and every year they provide us with 300000 tonnes of meat, not to mention all that wool, milk and yoghourt. We get a lot more out of sheep than they get out of us, so it's just as well they aren't any bigger.

The picture set five weeks ago, in the dark days straddling the old and new years, looked at murder. We'd recently had Christmas and Jesus, of course, was murdered. Then, on the Thursday after Christmas in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while campaigning in Rawalpindi. Closer to home, on Christmas Day, a man was attacked and left for dead on a patch of waste ground behind where we live in Brighton. Thankfully he still clings on to life - less lucky was the 16-year old stabbed to death a couple of days later in broad daylight in Islington. It seems a sudden and violent end can come to anyone, famous or unknown, at any time. What a gloomy end it was to 2007 !

Over 50000 pictures now available

The picture library offers more than 50000 images and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include beach rubbish, animal sculptures, sunbathing, sheep, murder, men & horses and shop closures. 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 over 2900 images. Each week brings 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.

Stencil graffiti on Brighton seafront in January 2008 (image 2750-43)