Saltwick Bay

On setting up in a favourite place and just waiting for it to happen

Saltwick Bay was one of the earliest places I visited with Dave Tolcher. We were both working with a client in York and one summer evening we managed to get away and drive over to the coast near Whitby. For this particular visit a few years later Dave and I were joined by Tim Parkin who at the time was living in the Wolds.

Saltwick was one of the earliest places I know to saturate with photographers. I remember a visit there the year before at dawn with friends Dave and Joe and even then there were multiple photographers lining up to photograph the area near the infamous wreck. On this particular evening however there were very few people there - the tides meant that getting round the corner was timed close to sunset.

I was just out to relax and enjoy myself. I found a composition I liked and it was one that was likely to be very different to the ‘standard’ Saltwick images at the time. I set up and just waited, chilled in the knowledge that there was a small gap in the clouds for the sun to drop into just before sunset. I waited and it happened, just for a few seconds. It was all that was needed. One sheet. Image made.

The alternative image is from that earlier trip - dawn this time rather than sunset. It felt forced - unscouted, rushed and unsatisfactory - it was my typical dawn effort at the time. What a difference a year more of photographic maturity made to my image making.