Photographs from a few visits to the Anthony Gormley sculpture titled ‘Another Time‘ in Margate
These are the first times I’ve photographed the Gormley sculpture on the Thanet coast despite it being here since 2017..! I’m not sure why. You do need the right tides to see it but perhaps it’s more because I’m somewhat of a contrarian/dick at times and when it was first installed I saw all the IG posts and probably didn’t want to be seen to jump on the bandwagon. Anyway, with the news that it is to now stay until at least 2030 there is no danger of that so I felt it was ‘About Time‘ I paid a visit or two…
Having full knowledge of the tides is vital to getting the best results at the coast. My first attempt to capture the sculpture was a disaster as he was already completely submerged when I arrived so I slunk off around the corner to shoot in the harbour instead. Luckily on my next visit, I timed the tides much better, arriving at low tide so I could get a better understanding of the location and assess the best viewpoints.
The first thing I noticed that would be an issue here at low tide was the amount of dark and messy seaweed-covered rocks around the base of the sculpture. I would need to wait a while for the tide to encroach which I had hoped would coincide with sunset.
After an hour or so the tide had covered most of the shoreline except for the raised platform that the sculpture was set on so I began to look for compositions from around the water’s edge. With my 70-200mm telephotos lens attached I tried out a few compositions, experimenting with different horizon placements and focal lengths.
I particularly like the wider shots with the wind farm in the background at twilight as these add another level of interest and another important human element alongside Gormley’s figure. Also, I was playing with ND filters and shutter speeds to vary the amount of blur and texture to the sea.
I ended up shooting well into twilight on both occasions. The low-light conditions added to the atmosphere and helped me achieve the longer shutter speeds that work so well here.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the images.
