Planet Kids by Steve Coleman

I guess I should firstly explain the title of this post. On a recent trip to Skegness, after hours of walking and taking pictures, I decided to take a break and have a quick check over what I’d shot. I don’t often look at my pictures until much later, sometimes even weeks as I like to detach myself from the actual day and look back with fresh eyes.

n this occasion I broke my rule. So why Planet Kids? As I scrolled through the images, I noticed that I’d only taken pictures of older people (Ice cream on the beach excluded). I hadn’t gone out to shoot like this, this is who I saw. I mean literally. Where had all the youth gone? This is a seaside resort for God’s sake, there was hardly a young person in sight, such, I feel is the state of the once great seaside holiday. Shame.

There is something lost, tragic and downright grubby about these resorts these days. Maybe they’ve always been so. Don’t get me wrong, I love them. The smells, the people and the tackiness is right up my street. They are my kind of people.

From the old couple leaving the arcade after shovelling copper coins into the cascade machines, to the packed lunch brigade who take their own sandwiches rather than pay over the odds for food on the prom (though it was probably worth the money). I feel I know them. I am them and they have been me.

When all is said and done, I hope they all had a nice time that day in Skegness. I had a wonderful day taking pictures of them.

Steve Coleman www.streetframe.co.uk