6 December 2007Seaside photography, the end of an era?

Clacton-on-Sea, 1995

Back in the days when Tony Ray-Jones took many of his classic photos of the English at play around the coastal resorts of Britain, photography was considered an innocent if eccentric pastime ranking alongside painting and rambling.

In the 1980’s Martin Parr produced his classic work ‘The Last Resort’ the general public were still accepting of this but things soon began to change. Parents in particular started to become increasingly paranoid about their little nippers being spied upon by sexual predators and this was in turn was exploited by the tabloid media as an ever increasing number of paedophile cases hit the headlines culminating in the Ian Huntley case a few years ago and of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance earlier this year.

In the last few years things have become increasingly difficult for innocent photographers to go about their pursuing their beloved pastime without incurring the wrath of either parents or the authorities wanting to question said photographers motives for pointing their cameras anywhere in the vicinity of anyone under the age of consent.