View from Hull Pier

When, many years ago, I lived in the city of Hull, the pier was a busy place from where a ferry made regular journeys to and fro across the River Humber, between the waterfront and New Holland in Lincolnshire. The opening of the Humber Bridge in 1981 put an end to the ferry and made the pier more of an interesting destination for people than a vital transport location. It has remained so all these years. I have always enjoyed my photographic visits to the pier for the estuarial light, the buildings old and new, and the passing river traffic. This shot was taken on a winter afternoon when the light had begun to make silhouettes out of the wooden pier, the futuristic aquarium (The Deep) and the wind turbine components at the dock being loaded on to a vessel to take them into the North Sea.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10     2017

Disused Hull dock and warehouse, 1982

One of my tasks during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus epidemic has been to ensure that all our family photographs are digitised by scanning. Most had been done prior to this year, but a few collections of transparencies (slides), prints and negatives came to light and they have been worked through. The activity has revealed transparencies and negatives that haven't seen the light of day since they were exposed. Here are a couple.

They were taken on different days (and months) in 1982 and show the disused Humber Dock, the bridged link to Railway Dock, and the warehouses that stand by the docks. Today both these stretches of water are part of Hull Marina. The warehouse has been converted into flats and the whole site has new buildings, car parks, chandlery services, hotels etc. In other words a centre of bustling marine activity.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OM1n    1982

BHS, Hull

When, in 1971, I moved from the Yorkshire Dales market town of Settle to the East Yorkshire city and port of Kingston upon Hull, it was something of a culture shock. The countryside, hills, mountains, valleys and villages of the Dales were replaced by the imposing city buildings and flat, urban sprawl of the city. I was often asked if I regretted the move and my answer was always the same - "No"- because the visual interest and history of the city was something that I appreciated and which provided a seemingly endless supply of subjects for my camera. One of the most noticeable buildings was the BHS store in the main shopping area. This former Co-operative store has a huge, fine and imposing, concave mural of 1963 by Alan Boyson that references the city's fishing fleet.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10     2015

The Pilot Office, Hull

In the city of Hull, by the old pier and overlooking the River Humber, stands the Pilot Office. This reserved, but stately, building is the work of the architect, John Earle. It was erected in 1819 and received further work in the mid-nineteenth century. Its distinguishing feature is the strong contrast between the relatively modest but stylish painted door and window surrounds, with the red brickwork. Like many Georgian buildings the first floor is the most important and the larger windows and higher ceilings here reflect that. However, arguably the most important is the top storey with the small windows for it is from here that the organisation would see the comings and goings of pilots and ships on the river.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10