The Arctic is a magical place, wild, bleak, hauntingly beautiful. It is also, surprisingly perhaps, full of colour. However there are plenty of scenes that lend themselves to black and white photography too.
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For several years now I have longed to visit Svalbard. A land where the sun never sets in summer, nor rises in winter. A land 60% covered with glaciers and home to exciting wildlife such as polar bears and walrus. And finally this year I made it.
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Who hasn’t been mesmerised at times by the sight and sound of the sea? Watching the movement of waves, whether on the shore or from a ship, can be almost hypnotising, or so I find.
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Why fly for the best part of a day or more and spend good money just to sit and see nothing of the country you’re visiting? Yes, the weather may be better than if you were sitting around at home, and a dip in the sea is fun, but to me it is a waste not to get to know the culture, the people, the history, the food.
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Perhaps because Britain is a relatively small island, many of us are drawn to the sea. After all, we nearly all live within a few hours drive of the coast. We grew up with seaside holidays, day trips to the beach. We are known as a ‘nation of seafarers’, based on those days when ‘Britannia ruled the waves’.
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I have always been drawn to the sea, especially at its wildest. As we made our way along the northern California coast on our recent road trip I delighted in trying to capture its power through my photographs.
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This morning I was transfixed by the sight and sound of the waves crashing against rocks off Laguna Point, just north of Fort Bragg in northern California. Trying to capture the sight I stood waiting for a bigger wave to create more spray, I remembered being told as a child that the seventh wave is always bigger than the others.
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There’s something very photogenic about the strands of seaweed we find on the shore. The colours are often rich, the shapes sensuous and sculptural. When I walk on a beach I often find myself pointing the camera downwards, looking for seaweeds, almost as much as towards the sea.
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I am not a typical ‘beach person’. I fry in the sun and get easily bored just lying around. And having taken the trouble to fly to a foreign country, I want to see and experience the culture that makes it unique, not spend time in an environment that differs only a little from place to place. And yet, I love the sea!
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Who can look at a boat floating on the water and not feel at least a small sense of adventure? The chance to leave the land behind and explore, the promise of an escape from the routine of everyday life, the drama of the open sea or the gentle rocking of a boat on calmer inland waters.
