Assignment: Sense of Place.
Since we moved to Deal eighteen months ago it has been a joke in the family about us living in “Sunny Deal”. Unfortunately from the time I started the Sense of Place assignment it has been anything but Sunny Deal.
For this assignment I tried to to think what Deal means to me rather than what the visitor sees at first viewing.
Deal is a quiet seaside town that, having no through road, people sort of stumble upon. The sea has had a huge influence on the town which has a rich history of smuggling, fishing, and living off of ships wrecked on The Goodwin Sands. Despite many closures it still boasts 24 pubs and 53 restaurants. There are two old Royal Marine barracks now converted to private housing, the Royal Marine Memorial Bandstand and the Royal Marine Memorial itself. The Royal Marines were posted to Deal to counter the smugglers who carried on their trade with France right through the Napoleonic Wars. George III had the whole of the Deal fleet burned on the beach in an attempt to stop it. There is a dwindling beach fishing fleet, a lifeboat station, a yacht and dingy club as well as a sea rowing club. The Pier is a little utilitarian but does have a pleasant cafe at its end and is popular with sea anglers. There are two market days, the Wednesday produce market at the Town Hall, and the Saturday general market held in the Landmark Centre car park. Deal boasts two castles, three if you include Walmer. Deal Castle is very much as it was when built by Henry IIIV, but Sandown Castle has been reduced to little more than a shape on the ground. Walmer Castle is the residence of The Warden of the Cinque Ports and it was there that Wellington died.
I made a list of what Deal means to me and then attempted to match it with a picture.
All pictures taken on my Canon G1-X fitted with polarising filter. I chose this for size of camera and quality of image. I didn't need the extremes of lens that my Olympus DSLRs would give.
The sea/beach.
Deal Pier.
The small beach fishing fleet.
The market.
The antique shops.
The pubs and restaurants.
The historic connection with the Royal Marines.
Deal Castle.
The Time Ball Tower.
The conservation area.
I spent a large part of last week walking round Deal under leaden skies finding shots to match the list.
I ended up with about 200 shots which I whittled down to sixteen possibles.
I’ll start with the nine that did not make the final cut.
Fishing Boats.
This was an easy picture to take, and one I have taken many times in the past. These are the first fishing boats a visitor would see as he enters Deal. I visited it twice for this exercise, once on an overcast day and again when the sun finally came out. I didn’t use it as I wanted a picture with boats in but one a little more unusual and hidden away; something you would have to go and look for.
f5.6. 17mm. 1/200sec.
f8. 16mm. 1/200sec.
The Pier.
I had to think hard about this one. I spent a good couple of hours taking pictures of the pier; on it, under it, from each end of it and from both sides. In the end all I got were brochure shots and that was not what this exercise was about. The same went for the fisherman stature at the land end of the pier. Nothing wrong with the pictures but not for the final set.
f8. 27mm. 1/400sec.
f8. 15mm. 1/125sec.
Middle Street.
In the heart of the Conservation Area and is what the tourists come to see. The street has incongruous double yellow lines that I have air brushed out. I used a snowy version of the shot in a calendar I produced last year. Very pretty but again a brochure shot.
f8. 40mm. 1/80sec.
The old Regent Cinema.
Long closed and awaiting renovation. A local artist has painted figures on the front doors to deter graffiti' which seems to be working. There was a motor cycle to the left of the door which I have air brushed out. Just not strong enough.
f5.6. 18mm. 1/160sec.
Beach Huts.
Strictly speaking these are not beach huts but are used by the fishing boat owners for storage and fish smoking. Makes a nice pattern especially with the run down hut to the left. The red flag on the phi point gives the shot a nice lift and focus.
f8. 35mm. 1/400sec.
Mike the Cheese.
Here is the man who sells local produce at both the Wednesday and Saturday markets. Cheese, pickles, jams and chutneys. I took this picture as he served my wife. Happy with the picture but the market shot I chose, I believe, is stronger.
f5.6. 15mm. 1/160sec
Public Houses.
As I said in the introduction there are 24 working pubs in Deal. I have included four of them in this one picture. This shot would look better in the Summer when the punters are outside on the pavement and the open air live band is playing. Again not strong enough.
f8. 15mm. 1/160sec.
The picture of The Albert nearly made it but it just lacked any feeling of life. It’s a great local pub and would have looked better with the inclusion of people. Its name and architecture give a clue to its vintage.
f80. 15mm. 1/80sec.
The Chosen Few.
The following are not the necessarily shots one would find in a tourist brochure but for me represent Deal.
Royal Marine Bandstand.
The exception to the rule. This will be found in the tourist information but with good reason. It was constructed as a memorial to the Royal Marines murdered in an IRA bomb atrocity. I produced it earlier in Part Four and now show it in a kinder weather.
The Market Trader.
This picture represents the quirky side to the Saturday market. With the best will in the world this guy sells crap. He is however not the only one. This just happens to be brass crap. You could also choose from wooden crap, ceramic crap and plastic crap. It makes for a great market.
f5.6. 15mm. 1/250sec.
Fishing Boats.
These little gems are but a short distance from the boats shown above but are not viewable from the road. I would guess that within ten years all these old boats will be gone.
f8. 15mm. 1/160sec.
The Time Ball Tower.
A bit run down and no longer working but this is a piece of Deal history. It was converted from an older semaphore tower in 1855 and dropped its ball at precisely 1pm each day on an electric signal from the Greenwich observatory. The anchor was included to add a bit of scale and drama.
f5.6. 19mm. 1/200sec.
Antique Shops.
No tourist town would be complete without its smattering of antique shops. This one closed down within days of me taking the picture. I like the way the horse has apparently picked up a skittle and is chewing it like a carrot. The charcoal drawing behind the horse is by a local artist and is of the Deal gasometer. Within the picture there are a number of red points that neatly link the various elements. The starting point is the red nose followed by the red skittles and finally the red book to the left edge. There is also a nice reflection of the horse in the mirror.
f5.6. 15mm. 1/40sec.
Deal Beach and Front.
This is Deal out of season. I could have produced a picture of it in sunshine and busy with people but thought this picture best represents what the locals see. This view, taken from the pier, can't have changed much since the time of George III.
f8. 15mm. 1/100sec.
Deal Castle.
This is a view of the Castle and one of its cannons. It was the blue sky that drew me to take this picture and I add it as the seventh picture of this assignment. To get this DoF I closed down the G1-X to f16. I couldn't find an angle that rid the scene of the flats in the background so I found a way of having them follow the angle of the barrel.
f16. 15mm. 1/20sec.
What would I have done differently?
During the summer season Deal has a visiting fair, a circus and various concerts at the bandstand. I featured the Royal Marine Concert in an earlier assignment. There are a number of vintage car and motor cycle rallies held by the bandstand. Each Autumn there is the Deal Carnival, which is where I took the picture of the guy with the dreadlocks. Deal also boasts three golf courses, including St. Georges which is one of the venues for The British Open. Short of waiting a year to carry out this assignment I went with what was on offer. It represents my Deal.
As a result of comments made by by Peter Davis I have added the following two pictures.
The first is a further picture of the fishing activity at Deal. It features a hand written sign advertising fishing trips. In the background is one of the boat owners and two of the available boats. The picture hints at the end of an era. The whole scene is messy and unkempt.
The second is an attempt to show the quirky side of Deal. There are many beach huts on the front, many of them serving as workshops for the fishermen and dinghy owners. Then there are huts like this one; set apart from the rest in perfect isolation.
