Comer, a Norfolk seaside town
Cromer is a traditional Norfolk seaside town in England, situated on a cliff towering over beautiful sandy beaches. Cromer pier is a grade 2 listed pier which opened in 1901 and has a total length of 151 metres and built at a cost of £17,000, the pier has survived all of these years despite bad damage from storms and natural erosion. The pier which is now owned by North Norfolk District Council and has been since 1974 during government re-organisation, since then the pier has encountered a number of major repairs with the last episode in December 2013 during a tidal surge. The repair work at a cost of £1.2m was completed just before the surge took place which was lucky as this likely saved the pier from total destruction.
The pier was damaged during the storm surge of 5 December 2013. However, the repair work which had just been completed allowed the main structure of the pier to withstand the main force of the surge, although there was damage to parts of the walkway and the box office and other buildings. Decking boards were lifted and damage was caused to the souvenir shop, the box office and the flooring of the Pavilion Theatre. The damage caused the pier to be closed to the public on safety grounds until repairs were made. These repairs allowed the Pavilion Theatre to resume its Christmas show programme on 12 December 2013 and also allowed the public access to the pier and the RNLI safe access to the lifeboat station at the end of the pier.
An initial assessment of the damage to the pier made by North Norfolk District Council indicated repair costs would be in the tens of thousands of pounds, but within nine days this figure had escalated to the hundreds of thousands. A temporary box office was erected at the entrance to the pier while the permanent box office and souvenir shop were refurbished. As of July 2014, work was continuing, and the pier’s supporting structure had been repaired. Another eight-week round of improvements was expected to start in September 2014, with a projected cost of a further £200,000. — wikipedia.com
Photography Tips:
There isn’t too much advice I can offer when shooting Cromer Pier, however, be prepared for the weather as it can be very windy and sometimes cold even on hot summer days. Cromer Pier is also a popular local tourist attraction so expect lots of people and think about the best times to shoot to avoid capturing unwanted tourists in your photograph. If you are planning on shooting slow exposure shots you will need a very sturdy tripod due to the wind and again plan ahead with the weather, too much wind will ruin your photograph. The pier is very accessible and you can also go underneath the pier to view the structure (see photo below), take a couple of decent lenses such as a prime and a zoom, I recommend the Sigma Art lenses which are fantastic quality at a reasonable price.
