(Johnston Press, December 2014)
By
Jerzy Morkis
St
Monans, sitting in the centre of the East Neuk is recognised as one
of Fife’s prettiest villages, thanks to a combination of its place
on the coastline and an intriguing history. There’s the Auld Kirk,
perched on the edge of the Forth; Newark Castle and doocot, the salt
pans and the windmill.
Community
pride has also brought recognition through the Beautiful Fife and
Scotland annual competitions – and let’s not forget the novelty
Welly Garden at the harbour which draws admiring glances from those
travelling though the village on the Fife Coastal Path.
Add
a highly acclaimed restaurant, the picturesque harbour and superb
views out to the May Isle and across to the Lothians and it easy to
see why ‘Sminnins’ seems to be growing in popularity, evidenced
in the growing number of holiday homes.
But
there’s another attraction, one that has been there for well over a
century, ignored or taken for granted by many locals, invisible to
many others, In fact, visitors who make the journey to visit it have
difficulty finding it. Yet, its fame has spread way beyond the East
Neuk, even beyond Scotland; it is now an international attraction.
You
could pay over £200 for a photograph of it on Getty Images and there
is at least one shot of it in every portfolio of a growing band of
photographers. There are even whole sections of websites, such as
Flickr and Tumblr, dedicated to pictures of it. Locally, it’s
traditional name is just quite simply ‘The Blocks’. But call up
Google, Bing, Yahoo or any other search engine, type in “Zigzag
Pier” and you will find a growing library of ‘The Blocks’.
Jutting
out from the east pier, ‘The Blocks’ is actually a breakwater, a
fairly nondescript trail of concrete calming the entrance to the
harbour proper that has been a popular haunt for anglers for
generations.
The
relatively sudden burst of interest from photographers is harder to
explain. No doubt the zigzag shape helps cut into the waves but at
low tide the breakwater isn’t at its most photogenic. But on a
rising tide it takes on an entirely different and seemingly
ever-changing personality.
Attempting
to capture it is not without its challenges. It is, in the main,
concealed behind the main harbour wall. The village sub-postmaster,
Peter Marr, a St Monans man and a keen photographer himself with a
print of the breakwater on his shelves for sale, has had to guide the
occasional visiting snapper to the pier. And, of course, once you are
there you have to scale a small ladder on the harbour wall to achieve
a clear view of the ‘Zigzag Pier’, and that’s not the most
secure of places when the waves are lashing.
Putting
aside the concerns of life and limb, there is also your kit to
consider; expensive digital camera gear doesn’t have a good
relationship with salt water, and that can make for a very expensive
picture if it’s stormy. And while there are images a-plenty of a
wave-whipped breakwater, its tranquil presence seems to equally
fascinate.
Photographer
Maria Gaellman of www.scotland-photo.com, said: “With the St Monans
jetty, I particularly love the unusual shape and the beautiful
backdrop of East Lothian; in mist/fog you can capture the nothingness
– a jetty going into the empty space which gives a kind of
serenity/peacefulness feeling.
“In
rough weather, you can capture how nature sometimes is cruel.
“What
I find particularly challenging with photographing St Monans pier is
the wee ladder you need to climb up on and the narrow wall you stand
upon – especially when it’s windy and it’s easy for the wind to
catch you and it’s very easy to fall into the sea.
“It
can also be a challenge – due to the high demand at times – to
find the spot due to other photographers having the same idea!”
The
attraction of ‘The Blocks’ would seem to be that because of the
tide, waves and sky no two pictures are exactly the same, and that’s
from one frame to the next. The frustration, and the magnetism, is
when you’ve got the picture you wanted and walk away, there’s
real possibility of a better one just happening.
The
photographers’ point of view...
“In
mist/fog you can capture the nothingness - a jetty going into the
empty space which gives a kind of serenity/peacefulness. ” –Maria
Gaellman, www.scotland-photo.comwww.scotland-photo.com.
“I
was attracted to the breakwater for composition - it has a fantastic
‘leading line’ which draws the viewer in; it’s truly unique -to
my knowledge an incredibly dramatic outlook. – Graham Macfarlane,
Graham Macfarlane Photography
“I
find the Zigzag Pier fascinating as it’s quite unique in its form
and the way it stretches out into the Firth of Forth. When the
distractions of the water are smoothed out in a long exposure, the
shapes and form of the structure create a powerful composition. Also
it’s great that it is not immediately visible to those who wander
out along the pier, as you have to climb up on to the top of the
harbour wall to see the zig-zag portion of the breakwater. As a
professional landscape photographer I like it because it sells!” –
Stewart Mitchell, www.earthlylight.com
“It’s
like no other pier I have ever seen in the UK. I enjoy working on the
coast in many regions in the UK, particularly Scotland and this pier
is such a strong graphic shape that it gives me as a landscape
photographer a
powerful and intriguing focal point to work with
when constructing an image. It took me a while to track it down, as
its hidden away behind the larger pier wall! – John Pottter
Photography, York.
“I
think it is the combination of snake-like shape of the breakwater,
and with the right composition and tide, the lack of distracting
elements in the frame that can give this a minimalist, slightly
surreal feel.” – Camillo Berenos , Camillo Berenos Photography.
The
‘Zigzag Pier’ dates back to the latter part of the 19th century.
Although it juts out from the Alexandra Pier – so named because the
foundation stone was laid on March 10, 1863, which was a national
holiday to mark the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Princess
Alexandra of Denmark – it would seem the breakwater was a later
project. A decade after the new pier opened, the middle and west
piers were built. That project, completed in 1879, seems to have
included the concrete breakwater to shield the entrance. If indeed
the ‘Zigzag Pier’ was part of those later works then it was built
by the famous Stevenson family and most probably designed by Thomas,
father of author Robert Louis.
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| 2017 |
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