Hannah Collisson speaks to photographer JJ Waller, who has captured life in St Leonards with his new book...

The Brighton-based photographer has over the last eight years found much to love about the seaside town of St Leonards, to which he has become a regular visitor.

His latest book, JJ Waller’s St Leonards-on-Sea & Hastings Vol: 01, contains snapshots of life, the everyday and the not so everyday, the weird and the wonderful, a mixture of street scenes and off-beat portraits.

“I’m always exploring ideas for projects,” says JJ. “I visited Hastings a few times, and I thought – there’s something that interests me here.

“I realised the story for me was St Leonards – what appealed was that it seemed to be a town on the cusp of change.”

Established by James Burton as a resort for the well-heeled in the nineteenth century, St Leonards fell upon hard times and became known as Hastings’ poor neighbour; though in recent years creativity and entrepreneurial spirit abound, and there is more than a whiff of regeneration.

JJ says that the diversity of the place is one of the things he finds most appealing, an air of grandeur combined with an urban feel.

“It reminded me of childhood visits to the East End of London,” says JJ.

“I would hope for people who live in St Leonards, it will be like looking at a long lost family album, and anybody who doesn’t know St Leonards would get a sense of the place.”

The cover image says it all, a man lying in the street talking on his mobile phone, while in the background, shoppers go about their business.

“I took the photo early one Saturday morning,” says JJ. “When I showed it to people, everyone said, ‘That’s St Leonards!’.”

Another striking photo depicts a woman on stilts dressed in carnival-esque costume sitting on the bar of a pub, with nobody present paying her any attention whatsoever.

With many years of editorial and commercial photography under his belt, the hugely popular JJ Waller’s Brighton Vol: 01, was published in 2012, and volume two is out soon.

JJ says that St Leonards-on-Sea & Hastings Vol: 01 is different to his Brighton books.

“I think this book goes further than just funny moments, and attempts to allude to what’s beneath the surface,” says JJ, adding that as a snapshot of a particular time, in 10 or 20 years, he feels the book will have an even greater social and historical significance.

Having taken many hundreds of photos, JJ understandably found it difficult to make a final edit for the book.

“I have had to leave out a lot of fun and interesting pictures, but I hope overall, it’s a positive flavour of the town.

“People think St Leonards is a magical kind of place, and the fact that the book has come out, they feel quite chuffed.”

Volume two is on the cards, and JJ plans for it to have a slightly different focus.

“Along with the pictures, I want to focus more on individual stories – why people chose to come to St Leonards, and what it means to them.”

• JJ Waller’s St Leonards-on-Sea & Hastings Vol: 01 (£11.99) is available now from Waterstones.

• Visit www.jjwaller.com.