If you ask people around you whether they prefer the seaside or the mountains, most of them will provide you with a quick and definitive answer. In most cases that answer will be „The seaside!“, to my experience at least. In my case the answer would actually tend towards the other option. Still there are always some exceptions to the rule. So when I spent some time in London a few weeks ago, I planned a day trip to Brighton, the largest and probably best known seaside resort in England. The first time I ever heard of Brighton was in some classic novel, where it’s usually described as one of the most vibrant, health-promoting and generally marvellous places to be. I always imagined it as a quaint place with dapper gentlemen and elegant ladies in white dresses, promenading the pier with their parasols, all gleaming fin de siècle façades, barrel organs and cheeky seagulls.
In reality I was surprised to find that Brighton is actually quite a large town that has so much more to offer than its beach and is slightly less touristy than I had imagined, in September at least. The small streets are lined with artsy stores, cosy pubs and antique jewellery shops and right at the centre is the most exotic pavilion, framed with bright red flowers and neatly cut lawns. Even so the most fascinating spot to me was still the long and pebbly beach with its piers. While the West Pier nowadays is nothing more than a rusty skeleton protruding from the sea, the Palace Pier offers all kinds of modern amusement, sometimes too much so. I tried to stick to the nostalgic (or clichéd if you prefer) motifs keeping in tune with the lovely weather and with the slightly faded colours I knew the old Rolleiflex would produce. I was satisfied enough with the outcome and didn’t really alter the pictures after scanning, only the usual clean up. As I really didn’t have any trouble finding several motifs, I will split this post into two parts. So as you might gather from the pictures, in my sentimental imagination Brighton is still slightly more pastoral and poetic. The seagulls really are cheeky, though.
