Beach Pebbles Rock by Rob Whitworth | My Photo Bookshelf
I’ve never really given the humble beach pebble much thought. We have many pebble beach’s down here on the UK’s south coast so being so used to them, I tend to take their existence for granted. That all changed when I came across Rob Whitworth’s Beach Pebbles Rock project. You could say this book was the result of an impulse buy as within about 30 minutes, I had come across Rob’s @beachpebblesrock Instagram page, checked his website, found the book and checked out.
The synopsis
Rob Whitworth is a graphic designer and professional photographer with a love of the natural world. His fascination with beach pebbles started at an early age, when a friend gave him a paper bag full of them for his tenth birthday. Every pebble on the beach is unique and endlessly fascinating. The subtleties of colour and tone; the infinite variations of form; their tactile nature, rough and smooth and cold; the density and weights that differ for similar sizes; their intricate surface patterns. All works of art in their own right.
Initially posted on Instagram @beachpebblesrock, these photographs have received so much positive feedback and encouragement from artists, ceramicists, designers and others who draw inspiration from the natural world, that the idea has continued to grow, and this exhibition at Inspire Makers is a progression of the project.
My thoughts about the book
Rob has collected beach pebbles for many years and looking for something creative to do during the initial Covid lockdown back in 2020, he began to take photographs of his collection. After posting them on Instagram, and with some positive feedback, he decided to create this beautiful small book.
Apart from a brief introduction, this book is less about the written and all about the visual narrative. Rob's background in graphic design really shows in this book as the minimal design means the pebbles take centre stage allowing their unique textures, patterns and shapes to stand out which to me, is the entire point of the book. Rob’s eye for a pleasing arrangement is also clear to see and I appreciate the time and patience needed to organise the pebbles by size, colour, shape and texture into some well-balanced, harmonious compositions.
Apart from the pleasing aesthetics, a lesson I learned from this book was how I take so much of the natural world around me for granted and rarely do I look properly at the things we see every day. Seeing how different the colours were and their unique patterns absolutely opened my eyes and reminded me to look around more often, paying closer attention to nature’s smaller details, whether I’m out with my camera or not.
Reading this book is an incredibly satisfying experience and if you’re into your small, intimate photography then getting your hands on a copy of Beach Pebbles Rock is a no brainer.
Book Details
Hardcover
Size: 155mm x 216mm
Pages: 72
Photos: 120
Availability at the time of writing: Still in print and available from the author’s website at https://www.robwhitworth.com/books