We’d been to Holy Island a few times before and I’d had an idea for an image I wanted to produce, but it wasn’t until we actually stayed on the island overnight, that I got the chance to shoot this image. I had envisaged capturing the posts of “Pilgrim’s Way” in a very minimal way and our first night on the island proved ideal, as the tide was due to be high around sunset. Cloud descended on the horizon and blocked out the sun just before it set, but that little splash of light on the water gave this minimalist scene that certain something that made it work for me. A thirty second exposure further enhanced and flattened the water and setting the lens to a relatively wide angle made the poles in the background recede toward the mainland, which further added to the minimal look of the image.

Named the “Pilgrim’s Way”, the posts mark a three-mile walking route from the mainland to Holy Island, which can only be attempted on an outgoing tide as the route and indeed the whole island is cut off from the mainland by the incoming tide.

Wellies were needed for this shot as the incoming tide completely covers the road and I needed to position myself on the road to get the separation I needed between the posts.