Beachy Head is a beautiful collection of photographs, made over a 12 month period by Brian David Stevens at Beachy Head,
the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 meters (531 ft) above sea level. The peak allows views of the south east coast from Dungeness in the east, to Selsey Bill in the west. It’s height has also made it one of the most notorious suicide spots in the world.
With that sort of intro, these beautiful landscape photographs take on an ominous, haunted feel. Together, they feel like a sort of elegy.
The paper stock is nice and thick, with a matte finish that lets the photographs speak for themselves, and Another Place Press did a nice job with the printing, though I’m not at all a fan of the so-called perfect binding. It might be perfect for text, or for the printer or publisher, but it does a disservice to the photography, and photobook makers should stick to smyth-sewn or other bindings that allow pages to lay flat, imo.
Brian David Stevens is a pro photographer, with works held in museums, and while Beachy Head is a lovely little book the perfect binding takes it down quite a bit, and does his work a disservice, in my opinion. He worked hard on it, taking almost every free moment to go and walk along Beachy Head, and he definitely captured something of the mood of the place.
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Overall, I’d give it 3.6 stars.
Sadly, Beachy Head is sold out now, but the photo series is on Brian David Stevens’ website, and you should go check it out if you have any interest in landscape-based photo stories. Stevens knows what he’s doing, and his work is worth checking out, for sure.
