Months before the shoot, I was looking for a change of scenery from the usual woodlands and forests I frequent. I ended up finding the location of the SS Nornen, an old Norwegian ship stranded there since 1897. Straight away, I knew I wanted to do a panoramic image of the wreck with the sun setting in the background. I wanted to convey the feeling of isolation and the wide expanse of the empty beach, juxtaposed with the beauty of the sunset behind it.
After I had the vision, I needed to find the ideal time to shoot it. As the wreck is located on the banks of the Bristol Channel, known for its sinking sand and fast-rising tides, I needed to wait for low tide for the ship to be visible and for the weather to be clear—a combination that wasn’t as simple as I thought.
Once I got there, the tide receded faster than I had anticipated. The sky was clear, but the icy wind was battering the coastline and, with it, sandblasting my camera. Forces of nature aside, I managed to get the shot I set out to capture—one of those rare times where everything fell into place and I got the shot exactly how I had pictured it in my mind.
