Of late, I have been examining and exploring the fossil beach at Easton Bavents. It is another form of Edgelands but totally outwith that series.
As is so with much of my photography, I get drawn to something by colour, shape, texture or whatever and then all sorts of alchemy takes place with projects within projects spawning themselves as I go about my new tasks with the enthusiasm of a 12 year old.
I have marvelled at the exposure of time in these crumbling cliffs and the layers revealing past times. These cliffs are a metaphor for photography and photographic practice. I have dipped in and out of local history and archaelogical records to give me some insight into what went on in these parts over the 2.4 million years they have been here but then, as often is my want, my eyes were drawn unto the sands at my feet and there before me were a myriad of modern day fossils revealed by shifting sands and moving tides.
The condom fossils tell their own story. They were dotted along the beach discarded in the urgency of an impending moment. Did some Pompeii like event take place that meant these capsules were left like time capsules on the beach and thus reflect an under acheivment of ambition? Was it the lightning storm of last night? Was the eye mask part of the condom ensemble? Who knows? Who cares?
I thought it ironic that I went hoping for some lucky find of an ancient relic only to stumble upon casually discarded ephemera of modern day life. We make of these things what we will.