Hastings Photography Guide - Why The Seaside Is The Best Place For Beginner Photographers

Introduction

Hastings, East Sussex, is a photographer's dream.

The beauty of shooting in a seaside town, such as Hastings, is that you are not restricted to one style of photography.

This is why I recommend that if you are just starting out on your photography journey, the coast is the perfect place to find out what style of outdoor photography you enjoy.

But what exactly do I mean? And what, as a beginner photographer, can you practice by the sea?

Let's get into it...

Types of Photography in Hastings

If you head south from the station you will come to Hastings Beach, which is gloriously long, over two miles of pebbly goodness, that stretches from Rock-a-Nore, in the East of the seafront, down to St Leonard's if you walk westward. You can even carry on walking west on the beach towards the town of Bexhill.

So without any effort you can wander the beach and shoot seascapes and streetscapes (street photography on the sea).

But wait, there's more...

The Landing

There is a sculpture on Hastings seafront which was unveiled in 2016. 'The Landing' sits on the beach near Denmark Place. A beautiful metal sculpture in the shape of the boat is known for its photographic properties. It is an ideal subject for any budding photographer.

The Landing

Seascapes

If you want to shoot seascapes that are not just boring photos where the beachfront meets the sea, with a straight line where the sea's horizon cuts off, then head east down to Rock-a-Nore.

If you are prepared to get up early enough you can capture the light from the dawn skies illuminating the waves crashing in, in this beautifully rugged and poetic area of Hastings seafront.

You can use a wide-angle lens to capture the majesty of this area, including the cliffs in the composition. I shot this image with a 50mm lens at f / 11, using manual focus, where I focused on Infinity so that I got a wide depth of field throughout the photo.

Desolate Escapes

Boats

Hastings is a busy fishing town. If you are lucky enough to capture fishing boats heading back to shore on a windy morning, you can capture some beautiful seascape images with the fishing boat as the main subject.

If you head West from Rock-a Nore, or if you are coming to the seafront from the station, head east, you will undoubtedly come across the huge fleet of beached fishing boats, waiting on the stony shore. They reside in an area called 'The Stade' and they represent the biggest fishing fleet in Great Britain. Each boat has its own unique character and detail with bold colours that always look striking in photos.

I find it great practice to see if I can find a leading line, or a foreground and main subject, using boats, fishing nets and boxes, that are left in this area of the seafront.

Boat Graveyard

The Pond and the Go-Karts

During quiet season, or in the morning when no one is around, I have found that the pond on the seafront and the discarded Go-Karts can look suitably bleak; making for some unusual dystopian imagery.

No Go Karting

East Hill and Ecclesbourne Glen

If you head to the Old Town you can jump on a cable car up to East Hill on the cliffside with far-reaching views out to sea. Here you can walk to Ecclesbourne Glen which is a rugged nature reserve. Here you can engage in some minimalist seascape and landscape photography. Just don't stand too close to the edge when you are taking photos.

Fishermen’s Return

Bottle Alley

Heading west on the seafront, by the pier and close to St Leonard's on Sea is Bottle Alley. It is an interesting man-made, 480 metre, tunnelled seating area, made of grey, slab concrete that adorns countless pieces of multi-coloured bottles embedded in the walls. I've yet to take any images here but it is fantastic for unusual street and architecture photography. It is even lit up at night with amazing, multi-coloured lights. So get yourself a boat and shoot it from the sea!

The Beard

Hastings Old Town

Another area I have yet to do any street photography in this area, but George Street in Hastings Old Town (in the east of town) is a bustling curved street full of interesting shops and pubs with beautiful facades. It is a great place to capture people sitting with a coffee or an alcoholic beverage, or coming from shops. Head to the east, down to the seafront and you have black fishing huts, beautifully fronted seafood stalls and restaurants.

Street Photography (on a pier)

Last, but certainly not least is Hastings Pier, where I captured these two lovely fellas a while ago.

Piers are a great place for practising street photography as you can have these quaint, little shop huts to shoot. People are generally standing around eating ice creams, looking over the edge, fishing, or walking at a leisurely pace.

When I was lucky enough to come across these two men sitting symmetrically apart from one another, I couldn't help, but to engage in some minimalist street photography, with my now departed 50mm lens.

The vertically directed wooden floor made a perfect leading line which draws the eye to the men in red.

I stood in the centre of the pier so that I was directly opposite and central to my dreamboat subjects, and took as many shots as I could. At no time did they look round to see me snapping away. In fact, they remained perfectly motionless throughout the few minutes I was shooting them. It was weird.

Conclusion

I hope that you can see from this guide that Hastings and any seafront have a plethora of great places to photograph. It doesn't really matter whether you are a street photographer, a seascape photographer or both. By the sea, there is something for any photographer.

Go forth and create.