The corroding ironwork on the now defunct breakwaters at Church Cliff in Lyme Regis revealed fascinating patterns and textures when viewed in close-up. These macro photographs show some of the wonderful details and colours. I only have seen similar rusting seaside ironwork before on the pier structure at Weymouth.
This beautiful pebble looks like a work of art with its white glassy matrix divided by almost geometric fractures and differential staining with red, yellow, and purple.
Thick mats of seaweed wash ashore on beaches along the Jurassic Coast. Dead seaweed is often automatically viewed as horrid, unsightly, and a nuisance – but if you pause and look, there is beauty in it. There are many types of seaweed to be discovered in the masses on this strandline. Their fronds intertwine in a kind of accidental natural weaving. Each species has its own characteristic shape, texture, and pattern. Their combined presence forms greater abstract designs of infinite variety, the individual fronds making strands or threads as in a tapestry. The puckered patterns of the crinkly Sugar Kelp stand out as the most decorative features of the assemblage. The colours change from deep olive brown to golden yellow and cream as the algae decompose. The textures range from leathery to satiny, from slimy to crispy depending on moisture content. Opaque and hardening on exposure to air; or translucent and soft when floating in shallow water rock pools.
Maybe it was something to do with the way that the planks were drying out, or something to do with the type of timber that had been used, but the cracked knot holes were really distinct in both shape and colour on this wooden pier, and looked like some crazy kind of deliberate decoration.
Patterned Sand 8 – 14: Naturally formed patterns of black sediment on yellow sand were photographed on the beach at Rhossili Bay, Gower, in April 2017. The black sediments were mainly composed of minute pieces of rotten wood, coal dust, and miniscule fish bones, with a small proportion of seeds. The images have been digitally colour-enhanced to emphasise the patterns of this natural abstract art.
Rippled Water 7 – 15: Natural patterns of shallow wind-rippled water in sandy pools near the tidal island of Burry Holms, Rhossili, Gower, in South Wales. The original photographs have been colour-modified to highlight the lines of reflected sunlight that trace the surface sculpturing of the water.
Patterned Sand 1-7 – Naturally formed patterns of black sediment on yellow sand were photographed on the beach at Rhossili Bay, Gower, in April 2017. The black sediments were mainly composed of minute pieces of rotten wood, coal dust, and miniscule fish bones, with a small proportion of seeds. The images have been digitally colour-enhanced to emphasise the patterns of this wonderful natural abstract art.
