10. Going Cockle Picking!

Fortunately for me, my grandfather spent his whole like on the coast. The small village he lived in, 'Bwlch', was full of cockle pickers, fishermen and the odd farmer. Along with this, it was the main road through Bwlch which the cockle pickers used to get onto the sands. When I mentioned my project to him, and how I wasn't sure who I could speak to about it, he thought of one of his friends, who he refers to as Tony Cockles. He is one of my grandfather's dearest friends, with whom he grew up with, and my grandfather assured me that Tony would be more than happy to help.

November 7th, 2013

After a few weeks of worrying and wondering how I'd get out with the Cockle Pickers, and after some dead end research into who I might know, my grandfather managed to get in touch with Tony Cockles and they agreed to a date and time I'd be able to go out picking cockles.

I was beyond excited, but I was also slightly nervous. I will always remember my family telling me that the tidal current on the Burry Inlet is recognised to be one of the strongest in the UK, and this has always scared me. Knowing that these cockle pickers walk on sand which is normally completely covered by a few feet of rushing sea water, is a slightly frightening to say the least, but this is how they earn their livelihood, and risks are always made. 

Here is a photograph I took from my home in Llanelli, it shows only a small part of the vast area in which the cockle pickers work. I have circled some tiny trucks which are parked on the sands. These would be the cockle pickers.

Planning

Planning a shoot will be very important with regards to photographing the Cockle Pickers. There will be a very short time frame to work with when I go out with the cockle pickers as they are only picking cockles for around Three Hours a day. Tony explained to me; They'll park the four-by-fours as close as they can to the river, while the tide goes out. Using a small rubber dingy boat, four or five to a boat, with their equipment and bags (to fill), they will go out to a visible bank and begin picking the cockles. They'll normally have a good hour or two, before it becomes possible to cross the river back to the parked four by fours, and drive the trucks onto the banks. With the four by fours at hand, it becomes possible to load the full bags of cockles and drive off the bank before they become stranded. 

You have to photograph within this time limit.

What kind of Shots?

There are only a few shots I know I can aim to capture while I'm there with the cockle pickers. I'm not exactly sure what to expect when I go out with Tony, it's something I have never seen being done, something not many people have seen, at it'll be very interesting.