United Kingdom Another Place
Anthony Gormley's art installation Another Place at Crosby Beach near Liverpool features 100 life size cast iron statues based on the likeness of the artist, dotted randomly up and down the beach.
Photography Tips
Photographing these was hard work. Perhaps I was unlucky, but it's such a wide open space that the wind was howling despite it being relatively calm on the street 500 yards away. Most of my long exposures blurred due to wind movement on my tripod.
The water also travels fast here as the tide changes. The beach is very flat, and Liverpool has one of the biggest tidal variances found anywhere, so by the time you've found your composition, expect the water's edge to have moved by 10ft before you've even mounted the camera on the tripod.
Also getting close to the statues proved difficult because the undulating sand creates long shallow pools and I wasn't wearing wellies so had to walk around them.
Use old or blank CDs under your tripod feet to prevent blur from your tripod legs sinking in the wet sand.
Bear in mind compositionally that all the statues look out to sea, but the front of the statue is more interesting to look at which means shooting towards land. If you want a shot with water filling the bottom of the frame and a statue taking up a good portion of the frame, you'll need a long lens, and holding it still for a long exposure will be difficult - I tried to do this and failed.
Finally, TREAD CAREFULLY near the breakers. I walked towards the breakers on this beach on what felt like solid ground and then plunged 12 inches deep into thick quick sand, caking my walking boots and trousers in thick sludge. The surface turns dangerous near the breakers with no obvious warning signs to the untrained eye.
It's a great spot, just don't expect it to be easy.
The water also travels fast here as the tide changes. The beach is very flat, and Liverpool has one of the biggest tidal variances found anywhere, so by the time you've found your composition, expect the water's edge to have moved by 10ft before you've even mounted the camera on the tripod.
Also getting close to the statues proved difficult because the undulating sand creates long shallow pools and I wasn't wearing wellies so had to walk around them.
Use old or blank CDs under your tripod feet to prevent blur from your tripod legs sinking in the wet sand.
Bear in mind compositionally that all the statues look out to sea, but the front of the statue is more interesting to look at which means shooting towards land. If you want a shot with water filling the bottom of the frame and a statue taking up a good portion of the frame, you'll need a long lens, and holding it still for a long exposure will be difficult - I tried to do this and failed.
Finally, TREAD CAREFULLY near the breakers. I walked towards the breakers on this beach on what felt like solid ground and then plunged 12 inches deep into thick quick sand, caking my walking boots and trousers in thick sludge. The surface turns dangerous near the breakers with no obvious warning signs to the untrained eye.
It's a great spot, just don't expect it to be easy.
Travel Information
I took an Uber from Liverpool, which cost about £20. I think you can get a bus, but I was on a tight timescale. It was relatively easy to get an Uber back to the city from the nearby leisure centre when I was done. If taking a cab, I suggest getting them to drop you at Crosby Leisure Centre.
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