Talented Sidmouth photographer Kyle Baker has turned a stunning image of the town’s iconic seafront into a valuable fundraiser for some of his local community’s most vulnerable households.

It was a case of being in the right place at the right time for Kyle, when at a recent training session with the Sidmouth Independent Lifeboat a rainbow appeared over the west side of the seafront at sunrise.

Sidmouth Herald: The stunning rainbow over Sidmouth that Kyle caught on cameraThe stunning rainbow over Sidmouth that Kyle caught on camera (Image: Kyle Baker Photography)
Luckily, 23-year-old Kyle, who is a member of the lifeboat crew, had his camera with him and was able to capture a unique early morning shot of Sidmouth nestled beneath the overarching rainbow – a symbol that has become synonymous with the coronavirus pandemic.

In the first lockdown last year, Kyle, who is a commercial photographer and a filmmaker, wanted to do something to help raise funds for the Sid Valley Food Bank. So he produced a limited edition hardback book, entitled Locked Down In a Small Seaside Town, which showed how the community had changed because of the Covid-19 crisis and chronicled the experiences of some of Sidmouth’s frontline key workers. Kyle’s book proved very popular – capturing a unique moment in the life of the community – and enabled him to make a welcome donation to the hard-pressed food bank.
Now, in the current lockdown, Kyle decided to use his Sidmouth seafront rainbow image to create a limited run of ten 24 inch x 12 inch panoramic prints, with £10 from each sale going to bolster food bank funds.

Once promoted on his Facebook page, Kyle had a great response and sold them all before being able to load them onto his website, www.kylebakerphotography.com – but this has meant he was able to donate £100 to the charity that helps vulnerable households put food on the table.
Kyle told the Herald he was very grateful to everyone who bought one of the rainbow prints and said that if supporters wanted to keep in touch with future offers they could subscribe to his mailing list via the website.