Swanage Pier Trust is to host an online exhibition of underwater photographs, taken under Swanage Pier by award winning photographers Paul and Alison Pettit. The exhibition will be in two parts with the first being aired on the Trust’s website during the Christmas week and the second in the week leading up to New Year.
Amanda Bowden, the Trust’s Activities and Volunteer Coordinator, said, “We’re extremely lucky to be able to put on a short exhibition of some stunning photographs taken by local photographers Paul and Alison Pettit. We were hoping to put on an outdoor exhibition, but the COVID-19 restrictions stopped us. The pictures give suc
h a fascinating glimpse into the underwater world that we decided to share them online in two short exhibitions”.
Swanage Pier is often considered to be the home of UK diving with the oldest dive school in the country (Divers Down) being established in 1958. Countless numbers of divers have made their first dives under the Pier and it is still a major dive destination to this day.
Amanda continued, “People often think that the waters around the UK coast are dull and boring, but Paul and Alison’s pictures put paid to that myth. The exhibitions are full of unusual and colourful creatures. Part one of Life below the Pier will be live from Wednesday 23rd December and part two from Wednesday 30th December on the exhibition page of the trust website.
Paul and Alison are based in Worth Matravers and can regularly be found diving under Swanage Pier. Paul, who has been diving for over twenty years, commented,” I’ve dived all over the world and the Pier is still one of my favourite dives. Even when the visibility is not very good there is so much to see and focus on. Some of my favourite creatures are only a few centimetres long but they would not look out of place in a Dr Who episode. At the other end of the scale, I was lucky enough to swim with the dolphin that was seen around the pier in 2019”.
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