Sunderland, England - August 5, 2012: After a storm, the light conditions change the normal colour saturation of the scene: the sand appears almost as pink as the dress of one of the ladies in the centre of the roundabout. A car and a cyclist (with the usual ugly but useful yellow high-visibility vest) also arrive onto the scene immediately after the rain clears. The Roker pier is visible in the background. Scan from 120 Portra 400
In the whole Northern hemisphere, Great Britain has the worst summer. Its summer is so bad that the name itself loses that meaning that other people in the rest of the world assign to it. Naturally, the way of living the sea and the beach is profoundly different from what is normally expected.
These pictures that I took over a few years show the different way the Britons live their sea and beaches. Visually the first thing that I notice is their use of shelters (tents) for the cold wind and of warm and colourful clothing. Practically, the sea is not a place to seek refreshment during the hot season, but just another type of outdoor environment, with its characteristics that make it different from the countryside.