Capturing danger
AND so the summer has come to an end and the traditionally busy season is over.
Trearddur Bay RNLI has had a quiet year so far however the volunteer crew have still been called out to 24 incidents from sinking boats to man overboard and broken down vessels to kayakers in trouble. All of which have tested the ability of the crew and proven the quality and necessity of the training that every volunteer receives in the RNLI.
This month the station has also had a very special visitor, Nigel Millard, the photographer behind many of the dramatic images the RNLI uses on its website and in its various fundraising and awareness campaigns and in the charity’s fantastic book, The Lifeboat: Courage on our coasts.
Nigel first became involved with the RNLI in 1990 when he photographed the crew at Hoylake Lifeboat Station for a personal project, and quickly fell in love with the RNLI way of life.
When Nigel moved to Devon in 2004, he jumped at the chance to continue working with the RNLI. He began joining the volunteer crew at his nearest lifeboat station, Torbay, on exercises and rescue missions more and more frequently and is now a full crew member.
Today, he spends one week every month shooting for the RNLI at locations around the UK and Ireland. In 2010 Nigel was presented with a supporter award in recognition of his outstanding work for the RNLI.
Nigel’s photographs portray the drama often encountered on a shout as well as capturing the wild beauty of the sea and his wonderful portrait shots of the volunteer crew help bring home the very real and committed people that volunteer for the RNLI. People that come together from a huge range of backgrounds to do a very difficult job, people that have lifelong and historical connections to the sea and some that had no connection prior to volunteering for the RNLI.
Without the work and effort of people like Nigel within the RNLI, the charity would find it much more difficult to get its message out there and much more difficult to raise the funds required to train its volunteer crews.