The Memories Path : Sea Defence
daily fight returns
the noisy fresh taste of salt
a clear mind and view
By the Coast : Humberston Fitties
In haiku, a ginko is a walk through nature observing, and as I walk I make images of the things I notice.
On September 1st 2022 I visited the Humberston Fitties with a group of photographers to do some urban exploration. We were welcomed by Katie Teakle at her chalet, and she fed us and made us coffee through out the day. It was lovely to chat with her and her friend Loretta about their lives on the Fitties. The photographers were members of the Royal Photographic Society plus a couple of local photographers and everyone said what a marvellous day it was.
From the Fitties, to get to the beach you cross a well trodden path, which I used to walk to and back from Katie’s chalet. Along the way I stopped to sit on the benches where many have sat before me. I watched power walkers and runners as they passed me by and noted that as one runner went past a walker she cast her morning shadow at her, and as she did the walker, at least in my visual note (photograph) appeared to float over the shadow. I found that moment mesmerising.
As I ginko-ed to Katies I observed a short metal pier that was being washed by the morning tide, and I lifted up my little camera to photograph two men who had stopped to rest there and talk. I joined in with their chat for a moment. Later on, as I ginko-ed back in the late afternoon sun to my camper, which I had left in Anthonys Bank’s car park for the day I too stood on the pier and as I cast my shadow over the waterless beach I watched two ladies search for any treasure the morning tide had brought in.
My photographs are my memory of my day at the seaside at the Fitties and the haiku poems are my thoughts that the photographs inspired me to write. Haiku Psychology leans towards releasing our emotions, and reacting in the moment, to the moment. Some say haiku is akin to looking at the world as though through a dewdrop, to see things through a raindrop that makes everything more intense and much brighter. In his book on Contemporary Haiku Robert Epstein wrote that each and everyone knows what is sacred in life. The more I discover of the Humberston Fitties the more I feel its importance and how sacred the place is. I am pleased to add my memories to all those that others have made before me, and others will make after, as we all travelled and rested along what I have named ‘the memory path by the HumberstonFitties’.
This weeks posts will all feature images and haiku from my day at the seaside, at the Humberston Fitties on September 1st 2022
See more of this project by clicking here
© Stewart Wall, September 1st 2022