An introduction to the diver
My name’s Sean Clark. I’m a commercial diver, engineer, and photographer.
I was one of the supervising engineers for the diving works on the West Pier. During that time I took a huge collection of photographs, running into the hundreds. I’m in the process of making a TV documentary about it – showing the marine life and the divers at work.
Born in Brighton, lived here all my life. 27 years old. Local lad, really – that’s me. “
Sean’s website can be found at www.underwaterimage.co.uk
Sean also sent his photos of the West Pier to this website.
Why I am publishing these photos
I’m showing these photographs to dispel a common theory that the marine life in this part of the coast is non-existent.To give you an example, I showed a small section of a video I’d done to a TV company, and the reaction I got was: ‘That’s not in this country!’. So I had to go and show them a shot in which I’m on some really colourful seaweed, surrounded by sea anemones, and I surface and show Brighton beach – all in one shot. No mixes in between….
A reputation for being dirty
Brighton beach has got a reputation for being dirty – and admittedly there is a lot of sewage down there. Sometimes I do find syringes on the beach when I come out of a dive… Because of that, people think: “There’s no marine life, there’s no colour – it’s just a barren wasteland.
Lots of marine life
I hope these photographs will show that there’s a lot of marine life out there, and there’s a lot of colourful things to look at. If you just go to your local rock-pool, you’ll see for yourself. Failing that, go to the Sealife Centre, and look at the local exhibits – a lot of the things from there are caught just locally in the waters off Brighton.
Comments about this page
Very informative and great photos. I’ll never see the West Pier in the same way again!
Add a comment about this page