7th Feb - East Bawdsey 

I learnt a couple of things here. Firstly - and not for the first time - it's easy to get wet feet, even on a falling tide and secondly that even the most unlikely conditions can provide something. I was on this beach hoping for some light in the sunset - it didn't happen (if fact this was my fall-back location). The beach is well known locally as one that suffers from erosion and I really liked the way that the energy of the sea is wrapping itself around these concrete remains that 70 years ago would have stood and been secure. For me the streaks feel like the marks a set of claws would make. 

The book I'm currently reading is Developing Vision & Style (Light & Land). In the first chapter Joe Cornish discusses how the subject decides the style. In particular Joe says he "photographs to find out what I am really seeing" (p12). For me that really rings true when we select longer exposures. Water is smoothed and lines and streaks appear where we might not have seen any. Contrast can be increased to highlight differences in shade. 

These are the artistic levers of the photographer can use when the image is made, they might come out of a dull January evening on the east coast or any other occasion but they are still there. There is much to be said for encapsulating a moment by making an image because it conveys the landscape and the vision. So perhaps photographers should not be encouraged to get there heads out of their phones (or cameras) and enjoy the moment because the moment is in the making of the image. 

(I also have to say I really like Forest at sunrise by Adrian Hollister (p31) the hint of moment or ICM is subtle but powerful.)