Photographer Rebecca Douglas talks to Joanne O’Brien about her connection to the ocean, and the wild edges of the UK coast
Phrases by Joanne O’Brien, images by Rebecca Douglas
The chunk of Kent that protrudes in the direction of continental Europe was as soon as a separate land mass from the remainder of that county, and immediately it’s nonetheless formally the Isle of Thanet.
A continued sense of ‘otherness’ has contributed to its nickname, ‘Planet Thanet’. Photographer Rebecca Douglas, in her personal notion of ‘being totally different’, chooses to eschew the multicoloured corals and warm-water lifeforms which might be flights away, entranced as a substitute by the liminal riches of this fringe of the English shoreline.
She isn’t solely not even a diver (sleep apnoea) – till not too long ago, she suffered such persistent movement illness that she couldn’t enterprise on board a ship. Then an ideal storm of circumstances, involving the Covid lockdowns, a analysis of ADHD, and life by the ocean, led to her first main solo exhibition celebrating the wild edges of UK coastal environments above and beneath the water.
Drawn by the distinctive gentle she discovered alongside the coast, Rebecca began taking images whereas exploring the coast by paddle board and snorkelling. Inside two years she had created a physique of labor that led to her exhibition on the historic sea-facing Albion Home Resort in Ramsgate. It fantastically showcases her distinctive artist’s eye and the broad vary of her fashion and subject material.
The pictures embrace ethereal moon jellyfish, captured of their filamentous glory at Walpole Bay in Rebecca’s native Margate (notable for its four-acre tidal pool), which at first sight seem to occupy the area between images and portray.
In contrast, seabirds akin to diving gannets make dramatic, imposing topics – exterior her beloved Thanet, the photographer’s different favorite marine environments are RSPB Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, and across the Scottish islands, particularly the Shetlands.
Previous to the pandemic, Rebecca, now 40, had a thriving wedding ceremony images enterprise, which she had constructed alongside a profession in schooling. Rising up in a family the place ‘images and digicam equipment had been a part of household life’, her teenage Saturday job had concerned growing rolls of movie in a newsagent, the place the proprietor allowed her to develop her personal movie cheaply with out having to pay for her experiments that didn’t fairly work.
When lockdown hit, the marriage enterprise was booked two years forward. Every little thing got here to a halt. Supported by her Scottish husband, Mark, as her earnings plummeted, she began to search for different photographic initiatives.
‘I don’t take adversity mendacity down!’
She set about making a ‘Lockdown Life’ idea, getting permission from the native authority to {photograph} households and people in public locations, and outdoors their houses, as a pictorial report of this second of their historical past.
Her {photograph} of her buddies Paul and Simon, on the window of their hanging Margate tower block, was chosen as one of many excellent footage of the Nationwide Portrait Gallery’s nationwide call-out for private pictures of lockdown: ‘Maintain Nonetheless – A Portrait of Our Nation In 2020’, which additionally turned a best-selling ebook.
Being recognized with ADHD and autism at across the identical time gave her not simply an evidence for why she had usually felt deprived by feeling her mind was processing issues in another way to these of different individuals, but in addition of how one can recognise her neurodiversity as her benefit.
She realised why she wanted to feed her excessive power and curiosity, and why she typically discovered it tense and wanted to tempo herself; she additionally found that the remedy she was prescribed for her ADHD solved her movement illness and eventually allowed her into the water.
She calls herself a ‘coastliner’, defending the ocean part of her DNA. ‘I like the marine setting on the edges – the spaciousness and the calm, a restlessness, there’s at all times one thing shifting to relaxation your gaze upon; what’s mendacity beneath, what life is like reducing by means of the floor.
‘I exploit the drones to see the world from a unique perspective, having an expanse of shoreline to discover. The waves and
their natural texture are so mesmerising.’
She remembers: ‘Folks had been related to the ocean in Covid, they solely wanted to placed on a pair of swimming goggles. It’s nature at arm’s size, and that’s what I’m most captivated with.
‘We’ve got a lot abundance within the coastal zone, beneath the waters in northern Europe, and I actually wish to share that with individuals. There’s an enchantment on our doorstep, simply beneath the floor.’
Rebecca’s exhibition ‘Wild Edges’ ran for 3 months throughout 2024 – to see or purchase a number of the work from the exhibition, head to rebeccadouglas.co.uk, or comply with her on social media on Fb @rebeccadouglasphotography; X @BxDouglas and Instagram @rebeccadouglasphotography
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