Water

I like water, but not too much of it

It’s been a very wet summer here in the UK. July was the 6th wettest since records began in 1891.

I seemed to have spent many days watching the rain create rivulets on the window by my desk.

We need water. I like water, but not too much of it.

I’ve been thinking about the times in my documentary photography career when water really added to the occasion or became the subject itself. Water sometimes has that magical ability to sprinkle a little extra into an image.

Here’s a selection.

Atlantic Grey Seals, Farne Islands, 2006.

The North Sea, Flamborough, 2005.

Water drops, 2005.

Abstract, Aysgarth Falls, 2014.

Abstract, hydrotherapy pool, 2013.

In 2013 I had the absolute pleasure to document the city of Hull’s entry into the P1 Powerboat Championships. Named ‘One Hull of a Boat’, the racing vessel was bought by a large collaboration of Hull businesses. A challenging summer of high-speed action on the Humber estuary, now recalled with great fondness.

One Hull of a Boat, Humber Estuary, 2013.

West Park fog, Hull, 2015.

A spillage during ‘This is how we die’, a play performed at Heads Up Festival, Hull, 2015.

A rainbow heralds the opening of the Amy Johnson Festival, Hull, 2016.

Wine glasses filled with water form a makeshift musical instrument during a percussion workshop with Butterflies Memory Loss Support Group. Hull, 2017.

A washed out VISTA Festival, Hull, 2016.

Looking out across the Humber Estuary from Grimsby, 2017.

Visitors to The Big Malarkey Festival, Hull’s renowned children’s literature event, scurry from tent to tent in the rain, 2017.

Children play with rainwater caught in a bathtub on an allotment, ‘Mini FEASTival West, Hull, 2018.

A goose stands on frozen ice in a Hull park, winter 2020. iPhone snap on a daily exercise walk during Covid lockdown.

Fish in an aquarium on the counter of my local Chinese takeaway, Stoke-on-Trent 2021, soon after I’d returned to live in North Staffordshire again.

Pinhole photograph taken of Etruria Wharf, Trent and Mersey Canal, Stoke-on-Trent, 2022.

Rain forms rivulets on the window of the cafe, Bournemouth seafront during storm Noa, April 2023.

Thanks for now,

Jerome