Sometimes, when you take a photograph, you know immediately what it’s about. Other times, you’re not so sure. This was one of those times.
But hold on, you say, how can you not know what you’re photographing? Well, you may be able to tell what’s in the photograph but it’s perhaps not always so easy to say what the photograph’s about.
On the sands at Crosby near Liverpool, there’s an Anthony Gormley installation: Another Place. It consists of 100 life sized metal statues of Gormley stretching for miles across the area between high and low tides. At high tide the figures are mostly covered. At low tide, they stand clear. Most days, there’s someone walking out to examine one of the figures, but they soon enough scuttle back to the shore. The figures just stay there getting slowly submerged as the tide rolls in.
In the distance, there’s Welsh mountains, wind turbines and clouds all heading for the horizon.
The light was crystal clear, bouncing off the sand as if it were snow. There’s a clarity about it all that you often get on cold days by the sea, so you could see for ever.
But why? That’s not so clear. One day maybe …
More back stories
Wrong end of the telescope, 2019
Late bar, Venice, 2008
The Serpents’ View, 2015
A Longing for Distant Shores, 2015
The Fin, 2011
Safe Homecomings, 2016
