Bowfiddle Rock is iconic in the Northeast of Scotland. It can be visited at any time of the year as the Moray coast has a special weather system that can deliver great (or equally, but slightly devastatingly, poor) light. There are multiple vantage points - a tiny rocky beach, which is where my camera and tripod were located for this picture, but also headlands to the east and west that provide unique and interesting views. Care needs tio be taken going down the short steep path and onto the stony beach - its easy to roll your ankle as you walk down the steep beach incline to the edge of the sea. The effort is greatly rewarded because, usually, the stony cove that looks across to the rocks, protects you to some extent from the wind, an almost constant presence at Bowfiddle Rock!

This photo is from my third dedicated attempt to try to capture the magnificence of this rock formation. On this day, we were taking a break between episodes of lockdown that had limited our capacity to travel even to local destinations. Getting up to the Moray coast, which has numerous photogenic locations, was a great break. We got there just before a giant rainstorm drove us away again. However, it was not before I had composed a series of images both slow exposure (often a classic strategy) and short exposure, which was suited to the rapidly changing weather. The effect of the wind is seen most clearly in the wheeling seabirds above the rock and I chose this image because the very fast shutter speed allowed a little of the drag of the water across the foreshiore to be captured without getting overwhelmed by the incoming tide driven on by an increasing vigorous wind.