AUGUST 2023 · WATERLINE
Worthing sea front
West Sussex coast, England
The promenade and the beach at Worthing exist in different registers. The promenade is busy, built, organised — pier, carousel, deckchairs, a crowd moving along it in both directions, a Canadian flag visible from some event near the entrance. Forty steps down is the pebble beach, quieter, the groynes extending into the water, a seagull working the shoreline.
I was using the Helios 44-2. The warmth and softness it brings made sense for this: a seaside town in August, the built leisure culture pressed up against the natural edge, the two things running parallel without quite touching.
The contrast the lens can't soften is the one that was already there: the built shore and the natural one, running alongside each other, neither aware of the other.
Worthing — August 2023
The carousel horses came first. Ornate paintwork, gold trim, the fairground rides blurred in the background — the Helios's rendering turned it dreamlike in the right way, the colour slightly warm, the edges soft. A white beach hut with turquoise detail, striped deckchairs lined up. The promenade crowd in the distance, pier beyond, the Canadian flag marking whatever event was on.
Down on the beach, the groynes were dark and weathered and parallel, running into the sea. The pebbles around them smooth and varied. Two figures on the seawall watching the water, their backs to the camera, the pebble beach stretching out ahead. A seagull standing on the shingle, entirely unbothered by the August traffic above.
A wooden boardwalk path curved through coastal dune grasses — the narrow zone between the town's infrastructure and the actual shoreline, where the grass grows out of the pebbles and the path narrows to one person wide.
The Helios held the warmth even on an overcast day. The contrast the lens can't soften is the one that was already there: the built shore and the natural one, running alongside each other, neither aware of the other.
The pebble beach with scattered coastal vegetation and the turquoise sea at the horizon.
Crowded Worthing promenade with pier and Canadian flag in distance
White beach hut with turquoise detail, striped deckchairs and seating
Wooden boardwalk path curving through coastal dune grasses
Ornate carousel horses with rope detail and fairground rides blurred behind
Colorful carousel horse with multicolored decorative paint and gold trim
Weathered wooden groynes on pebble beach with sea and pier posts
Two figures sitting on seawall watching expansive pebble beach
Pebble beach with scattered coastal vegetation and turquoise sea horizon
Seagull on shingle beach with visitors and pier structures in background