'Scarborough still has that mix of faded glory'

1 hour ago

Richard BakerYorkshire

Emma Warley wants her art to be accessible to everyone

Emma Warley One of Emma's photographs. She pictures a woman with flowy ginger hair eating an ice cream with a long spoon. She is putting the ice cream in her mouth - whilst sitting on a red leather seat. A Union Jack flag sits limply out the top of her ice cream. — Emma Warley wants her art to be accessible to everyone

A Scarborough-born photographer says she wants her images to reveal the "faded glory" of the resort as she holds her debut exhibition.

Emma Warley says she "fell into" photography after a childhood obsessed with cameras, noting that she would prefer to spend her pocket money on rolls of film rather than sweets.

As an adult she turned her attention to wedding photography.

"My friends didn't see the value in paying hundreds of pounds for a wedding photographer - so I just turned up with my entry level DSLR and took some photos."

Warley says it got "out of hand" after getting more bookings through word of mouth and now travels the country.

However, capturing the faces and features of people in Scarborough remains an important part of her work, she says.

Warley says photography has been a lifelong passion

Emma Warley Warley smiles for the camera and is smiling. She is holding an ice cream in a cone in front of a ice cream van. She has red hair, red glasses and wears a polka dot top. — Warley says photography has been a lifelong passion

Since sharing her street photography, her work was likened to the late British photographer Martin Parr - whose work captured the playful pastimes and pleasures of the British public on holiday by the sea.

"I never even knew who he was until someone started comparing my pictures.

"I looked him up, met him in 2017 which was lovely - and now I've got loads of his books and I've got prints all over the house. I've become a bit of a superfan."

After researching Parr, Warley discovered that some of his earliest works were shot "around the corner" from her childhood house when Parr was working at the now-derelict Butlins in nearby Filey.

Warley captured Scarborough's South Bay, with its Grand Hotel in the background

Emma Warley Picture of Warley's - which shows many people walking and digging on Scarborough's South Bay beach. A mist comes up over the beach whilst trees and Scarborough's buildings can be seen looking down onto the beach. — Warley captured Scarborough's South Bay, with its Grand Hotel in the background

She says she holds a "massive affinity" for him and his work, and it was whilst travelling the country seeing his exhibitions that Warley had the idea to stage her own exhibition.

"We'd been down to a gallery in Bristol, and he just happened to be in - he'd signed a book and took some pictures with us.

"I said 'well if he can do it, I can put on an exhibition'."

The photographer says Scarborough is an "absolute joy" to capture.

"A lot of people come [to Scarborough] from West Yorkshire, but they always come after the workday is over.

"Taxi drivers bring their families down at tea-time, so if you go down to the beach at that time on a summer weekend, there will be a whole different set of people than those who were there in the afternoon.

"In the afternoon, it's more the shirts-off crowd, kids playing football kind of thing.

"You can see different tableaus as the day goes on and almost track the day depending on who is around."

Real people are integral to her work, she says

Emma Warley A man stands looking into an arcade in Scarborough. He is holding an ice cream and wearing a baseball top. He is looking at a 'truth teller' box which has a figurine of Donald Trump inside. A faint reflection of Warley, taking the shot, can be seen in a window. — Real people are integral to her work, she says

Warley wants her art to be "for everyone", partly the reason why her subject matters are mainly people and social scenes.

"I want to represent everyone. Art can be quite middle class and it's quite an inaccessible thing to some people.

"I want it to be as accessible as possible [and] I want someone to go, 'do you know what, I could do that,'" she said.

Warley now wants her work to show the diversity of her hometown.

Her exhibition, A Nice Day For It, opens at the Shakespeare Gallery in Scarborough, a former pub she used to drink in when she was younger, from 8 until 12 July.