APRIL 2026 · PATINA
Fisherman Work Space
Hastings, England
The sign is hand-painted on a blue boat hull. It reads 'Fisherman Work Space.' No apostrophe. Rubber pipes and rusted fittings alongside it. The sign isn't for visitors — it's for whoever needs to know that this part of the beach is not a viewing platform.
Hastings operates the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe. The shingle at The Stade is a working surface, not a seafront. The Track Marshall bulldozers — rusted yellow, hydraulic fittings seized in some cases, cabs stripped — are there to haul the boats up the beach. Not decorative. The bulldozers are everywhere in this series, in the background of most shots, in the foreground of several.
The gear accumulates without system. Lobster pots stacked against boat hulls. Tangled monofilament nets spilling from blue plastic tubs. Orange and teal nets beside a rusted bulldozer bucket. Coiled rusty wire rope and orange buoys on the shingle. White lobster pot marker buoys with shredded orange signal flags. Each of these is a composition in itself; together they describe the operational logic of a working beach, which has no concern for visual order.
The gear accumulates without system.
Hastings Beach — April 2026
Narrow passages form between the stacks. A grassy gap between tall lobster pot walls. A muddy corridor with pots on both sides, the beach visible at the far end. Black and white: the corridor between stacked pots with a bulldozer visible at the end. These perspectives compress the accumulated gear into architecture.
RX boat numbers repeat through the series: RX37, RX142, RX1006 — rows of lobster pots along the hull of the last. Working vessels with working names, not restored or displayed.
The close shots are about material. Tangled net against the curved ribbing of a weathered wooden hull. The heavily rusted bulldozer cab and hydraulic fittings in warm afternoon light. The yellow bulldozer blade with a chained tyre, lobster pots behind it. Stacked red, yellow and blue fish crates. A dumper truck amid timber and pots.
The beach at wide angle is the sum of all of this: lobster pots, bulldozers, boats, blue bins, shingle, overcast sky, cliffs behind.
Tangled monofilament fishing nets spilling from a blue plastic tub, Hastings beach
Wall of stacked lobster pots against a fishing boat hull, jerry cans on the shingle, Hastings
Tangled orange and teal fishing nets beside a rusted bulldozer bucket, Hastings beach
Hastings fishing beach with yellow bulldozers, lobster pots, blue bins and fishing boats on the shingle
Teal fishing net draped over a weathered wooden rail, derelict yellow boat behind, Hastings
Narrow grassy passage between tall stacks of lobster pots, Hastings fishing quarter
Tangled lobster pots and green hosepipe on Hastings shingle, cliffs and blue boat hull behind
Coiled rusty wire rope and orange buoys on Hastings shingle with teal fishing net and working beach beyond
Tangled fishing net against the curved ribbing of a weathered wooden boat hull, Hastings
Lobster pots and old wooden fishing boats on the shingle at Hastings, overcast sky
Heavily rusted yellow beach bulldozer cab and hydraulic fittings, Hastings fishing beach
Stacked lobster pots alongside rusted machinery, boats and bulldozers on Hastings fishing beach
Tarpaulin sacks, blue plastic bins and fishing boat RX37 scattered across Hastings shingle beach
Cluster of white lobster pot marker buoys with shredded orange signal flags, Hastings fishing beach
Black and white — stacked lobster pots, boat NN241 and old vehicle on Hastings shingle
Large orange spherical buoy against a blue boat hull with green hosepipe coiled on the shingle, Hastings
Blue fishing boat hull with hand-painted 'Fisherman Work Space' sign, rubber pipes and rusted fittings
Yellow beach bulldozer blade with a chained tyre, lobster pots and fishing boats behind, Hastings
Lobster pot in foreground with weathered fishing boats and scattered gear on Hastings shingle
Fishing boat Senlac Jack RX1006 with rows of lobster pots stacked along its hull, green bags below
Red Terex dumper amid lobster pots, timber and fishing equipment, Hastings working beach
Yellow beach bulldozers and scattered fishing gear on the crowded Hastings shingle
Rusted beach machinery with coiled rope and a red Terex dumper in the Hastings fishing yard
Tangled orange and teal fishing nets against a rusted bulldozer blade, Hastings cliff and funicular behind
Stacked lobster pots and a blue plastic tray on the Hastings shingle, grey sea behind
Gravel path beside a long wall of stacked lobster pots, fishing boats and tractor, Hastings beach
Towering stacks of lobster pots flanking a muddy yard path, Hastings fishing quarter
Lobster pots stacked beside a black net shed, Hastings Old Town houses visible on the hillside behind
Black and white — narrow corridor between stacked lobster pots with a beach bulldozer visible at the end
Two rusted yellow Track Marshall beach bulldozers, Hastings cliffs and town visible behind
Stacked red, yellow and blue fish crates with lobster pots beyond, overgrown yard, Hastings beach
Fishing boat NN736 behind rusted bulldozers, tangled nets and scattered bins in the foreground, Hastings