A day in Dungeness

Dungeness is a weird old place, in fact the whole area is like an alter-ego to reality with its abundant decay, quirky artefacts littering the Romney Marsh and spit and the monstrous Dungeness nuclear power stations rising up from the shingle land with a wild and abundant array of monstrous pylons heaving out the electricity and marching towards the ‘mainland’ with a gallant stride.

This was the first time I had been out with the guys from Sussex Photo and in fact surprisingly (mostly to myself) the first time I have ever been out with other photographers (i.e. not people who just take snaps or a passing interest but people who really enjoy it on a hobbiest to professional level.) I’m very much the keen amateur so it was great to get a glimpse of how other people work. Needless to say I was the only film junky and rather than taking the EOS 3 with me (still not digital but it’s comparable to their most advanced current bodies with the only major difference with it not being digital) I decided to take out the Leica M2 with a 35mm Color Skopar and my Mamiya C330F with the 55mm and 80mm lenses. I didn’t use the 80mm lens at all but with a raft of Cokin filters (red and GNDs) it was an immense amount of fun.

It’s not easy getting up at 4am but in the height of summer you would have to be up much earlier with sun rising at around 4am itself! In the winter months, a sunrise between 7 and 8am is more do-able though of course shooting both summer and winter sunrises are quite different (different quality of light, one is blessed with a coldness and a summer sunrise has a slight stickiness and almost insomnia ridden quality about it.)

I found this interesting video on YouTube which talks to a resident of Dungeness and her interesting insight into her life and of Dungeness itself:

Certainly it is well worth visiting, there are probably very few places like it on earth, it does give you the impression of being something like lunar or Martian landscape with its vast expanse of shingle and tufts of grass sprouting up here and there.

It is one of the few places on the South East coast that has a sense of isolation, few other places that I can think of have that, if indeed at all; and for that sense of isolation and freedom away from the heady madness of modern life, it can’t be beaten.

Channel 4 Ident – Pylons (filmed on the Romney Marsh)