An intriguing exploration of Thanet is contained in a new photographic book which will be launched in Ramsgate tomorrow (August 21).
Veteran photographer Mike Goldwater spent four years, from 2019-2024, taking images across the isle of landscapes, people and events to create A4 book Island.
The book contains 129 black and white photos and each are accompanied by a verse from Ramsgate poet Sarah Tait.
Mike is a documentary photographer and photojournalist. A founder member of the British photo agency Network Photographers, he has worked on both assignments and self-directed projects throughout his career.
Previous books include Indus Journey, Promised Lands, Acqua, and London Underground.
The father-of-two has worked extensively in Africa and Latin America and Asia and is a winner of two World Press Awards and the Tom Hopkinson Magazine Photographer of the Year.
Wife Wendy is a Thanet native and the couple have a home in Ramsgate so they can make frequent visits.
Mike (pictured above) said: “We have always spent lots of time here and when you spend time in a place, as a photographer you feel you need to get under the skin of what it is, who the people are, how they live and what the dynamics are.
“Once you start that process, things happen and you talk to people and ideas come to you and you think about what makes a place tick, you try and have a take on what makes Thanet special, because it is special.”
Photos range from the Blessing of the Sea in Margate to the Medway Queen on the Ramsgate slipway, asylum seekers arriving by small boat on Ramsgate beach, Reaperz tattoo studio in Margate and clog dancers in Broadstairs.
Isle characters featured include affordable food champion Sharon Goodyer, Philip Downs with his hearing dog Clay, Sister Benedict at Minster Abbey, isle beauty queens and residents and visitors across Thanet.
Mike said: “Each of the pictures in the show has a story behind it. Each one comes from a sequence of images and one image was then chosen from that sequence..”
Mike says he was looking for someone to bring words to the images and, at the suggestion of Wendy, approached Ramsgate poet Sarah Tait.
Sarah (pictured above) is an active member of the poetry scene, writing and performing her work regularly.
As a keen walker and history enthusiast, Sarah’s work often borrows from Thanet’s landscapes and past as a backdrop for exploring our present.
As well as being regularly published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, Sarah is particularly interested in working with projects that help to share poetry with wider diverse audiences.
Mike said: “She writes beautifully. I showed her the book and she spent a month writing poems which are in the book.”
The launch event is taking place at Sugar Rush (the former WHSmith building) in Ramsgate High Street from 5pm to 7pm tomorrow (August 21) and the exhibition consists of 35 images from the book.
The event, which has been The exhibition has been partly sponsored by Vattenfall, coincides with the opening of the new Sugar Rush cafe at the building and the start of the Ramsgate Festival of Sound, which also features in the book.
Mike said: “(Sugar Rush owner) Heidi has been amazing, bringing forward the opening date for the cafe to accommodate the show and book launch.”
Island costs £12 with £1 per copy sold going to the Salvation Army Ramsgate.
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