The Enthralling Symmetry of Beach Umbrellas

Fri, Jul 3, 2009

Featured

Environmental Graffiti Will be Changing Dramatically Soon. Get a Sneak Preview By Signing Up Here.

Red and white beach umbrellas
Image via miss lissa

A day at the beach: people, beach towels, chairs, sand, the smell of sun tan lotion, sea, sun and beach umbrellas. What seems like random beach activity is actually quite an organised environment, from colours to chairs to those saviours of the pale – the beach umbrellas whose arrangements structure life at the beach. See for yourself how the whole beach experience has become less haphazard and more picturesque.

All-natural umbrellas mimicking the desert mountain range in Kalawy Bay at the Red Sea:
Kalawy Bay, Red Sea, Egypt
Image: joadl

Did you know that an umbrella is colloquially also called gamp, mush, brolly, umbrellery or – our favourite – bumbershoot, a fancy Americanism from the 19th century? Whatever you call your parasol, meaning shield (para) from the sun (sol), it is a beach essential.

Overwhelmingly orange with bursts of turquoise – Positano at the Amalfi Coast, Italy:
Positano, Italy
Image: designatednaphour

Now you see it, now you don’t – camouflaged beach with palapa umbrellas in Tenerife:
Tenerife
Image: Piotrus

Left right, left right, don’t you dare step out of line! Neat beach in Pesaro, Italy:
Pesaro, Italy
Image via tripadvisor

Red, blue and green beach umbrellas and chairs in rows at Mamaia Beach, Romania:
Mamaia Beach, Romania
Image: phototouring

Under my umbrella, ‘ella, ‘ella at Cliffside Beach, Nantucket, in the 1950s:
Nantucket in the '50s
Image: Louis Davidson

Dot, dot, dot and round the bend – beach life in Monterosso al Mare, Cinqueterre, Italy:
Monterosso al Mare, Italy
Image: Barbara Weibel

At the end of the day at Sunny Beach somewhere in Bulgaria:
In Sunny Beach, Bulgaria
Image: Victor Frankowski

Surreal night beach in Roquetas de Mar, Spain:
Roquetas de Mar, Spain
Image: Frank C. Müller

What are you waiting for, get your bumbershoot, your camera and a good book and get out there!

Source: 1

If you want to find out all the latest news on the environment, why not subscribe to our RSS feed? We’ll even throw in a free album.

, , , , , , , ,

You Might Also Like Our Friends' Posts From the Intertubes

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else.”


This post was written by:

Simone Preuss - who has written 207 posts on Environmental Graffiti.

Simone is a freelance writer, editor and translator. While living and working in Germany, the United States and India, she sampled environmental consciousness around the world. Environmental Graffiti allows her to reflect on the everyday madness that is life without taking it too seriously. For more of her writing, read her articles on Suite101.com or her blog, The Writer's Advantage.

Contact the author

0 Comments For This Post

Leave a Reply

ss_blog_claim=68ded206efcf0b5d4bf955123f191aba