Beach with buildings behind and people dotted around on sand
Coast & seascapes,  England,  Monochrome Madness,  Photographic techniques,  Travel galleries

Gallery: seeing Broadstairs in black and white

John H. Glover-Kind, 1907

But of course the British weather had other ideas. So while we did enjoy our few days away this week, and did indeed go for walks and eat ice cream, sunshine was in very short supply. As a result many of my photos of our destination, Broadstairs in Kent, work better in black and white than in the original colour. So here is a small selection of them for this week’s theme-free Monochrome Madness, edited with Nik Silver Efex Pro.

A former fishing village and haunt of smugglers, Broadstairs was popularised as a seaside resort by Charles Dickens and also by Princess (later Queen) Victoria. It has retained a lot of its earlier buildings alongside more recent typical English seaside features. Its central beach, Viking Bay, was originally known as Main Bay. It was renamed in 1949 when the Danish government commemorated the 1500th anniversary of the AD449 Viking invasion of Britain by constructing an authentic Viking ship which sailed from Denmark to Broadstairs.

Raked sand and a beach cafe sign

Early morning in Viking Bay


Stone carving of an eagle on a roof

Roof with clock and weather vane

Rocks and sea

Small waves lapping a pebble beach

Small boat in the sea with dramatic clouds overhead

Small boat in a patch of sunlight on the sea

Woman and two small children in shallow water

Man with metal detector on a beach

Dog running in the sea

Row of beach huts on a concrete path by a beach

Large hinge on a wooden door

I last visited Broadstairs in July 2024 when all these photos were taken.

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