Send In The Clowns

I love the coast, especially the British seaside. Actually it is better out of season, less people, more dramatic weather and a heightened melancholic atmosphere. So I was excited to visit coastal towns I'd never been to before on our recent East Yorkshire pilgrimage. We managed to fit three places into one day, Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington. They are different sizes and have different ambiences, which could have been partly to do with the time of day we reached each one. It reminded me a bit of a trip we do nearer to home on the west side of the country, Lytham, St Annes and Blackpool. Near together physically but miles apart in terms of the people who visit and what's on offer.

The British Seaside has been a source of inspiration for many photographers and so I spend a lot of time trying to avoid making a Martin Parr or a Tony Ray-Jones influenced picture, which is hard as they are part of my creative DNA.

I really liked the sight of this vintage clown ride with the horizon behind it but I think we'd all agree clowns appear fairly sinister. Apparently some phobia studies suggest an estimated 20 to 30% of the entire population find clowns scary and some of that group finds them frightening enough to trigger panic attacks. The fear of clowns is called coulrophobia which isn't even recognised by my spell checker.

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A Lovely Pair of Pins

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Linda McCartney Video Commission

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Exquisite Corpse

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Marc Provins

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