I couldn't believe my luck. I had been at this spot at least ten times before that particular moment, and nature had already offered me all kinds of beautiful and spectacular scenes there, from calm and lovely sunrises to wild and violent waves during thunderstorms. But this topped it all.

The Nividic lighthouse, almost hidden behind the awe-inspiring waves, is on the small island of Ouessant off the coast of Brittany. It is one of five lighthouses on or off the island, built between 1912 and 1929 and classified as a national monument in 2017. Seeing those waves, I wondered how on earth a human-built structure could withstand such natural violence for almost a century. Over the ensuing decades, the lighthouse was plagued with technical problems and difficult access due to bad weather.

No wonder, I thought. And how tiny and insignificant we are. These waves have been crashing on the shores of the island for millions of years and will keep on crashing for many more millions of years. And here I was, asking myself whether I should use 1/400 or 1/1000 of a second of exposure time to capture the beauty of this scene. I took dozens of shots. Usually, I'm quite strict with myself and quite good at selecting a few frames for a particular scene. But in this case, I still have them all on my hard disk and refuse to make a choice.