Photography is easy, I just push a button all day.

A great photograph can tell 1000 stories. Capturing a moment in time and being in the right place at the right time to get the shot is something I'm sure everyone has managed to do. However, to replicate this daily takes more... "Amateurs hope for good breaks, Professionals create them"

So, I thought I’d share behind the scenes of a day on location and give you an insight into the work that goes into a ‘great snap’

The alarm goes off at 4am and I roll out of bed. It's a 2 1/2hr drive to my destination.  Despite that fact that it is so early the sun is already up and there is a huge red orb ahead on me on the road as I head east.

I pretty much have the road to myself apart from the Aldi truckers and deer. I have to slow down for a moorhen that lazily crosses the A14. Pheasants really need to learn to fly better and that’s all I’m saying….

Further into Suffolk and then Norfolk the roads are smaller and the scenery much greener and I drive through forests and ancient woodlands, passed Incini villages and holiday parcs.

I arrive at Holkham beach at around 6:45am. As you'd expect the large carpark is almost but not quite empty. A couple of other cars and a horsebox. This is what I have come to Holkham beach for. I meet a lovely lady Polly and her horse Louie. She gives me directions to the beach and promises to find me a little later. She is more than happy for me to photograph them.

The beach is not visible from the car park, in fact the view is of a forest.  I take a walk along a boardwalk through the trees down to the beach, which is huge! I have planned my visit to coincide with low tide but had no idea how far out it goes.  I do wonder at one time whether I will actually ever reach the water. On my trek to the sea, I pass dunes and ford rivulets and channels. I catch sight and photograph a meadow pipit (or is it a skylark?) Listen to nesting birds and sky larks (or is it meadow pipets?).

I have seen lots of signs saying dogs should be on a leash to protect the nesting birds at this time of year, however this doesn't seem to apply to the dog walkers that I see….

I love doing photography at this time of the day, it seems like there are only a few people on the beach, it almost feels like I am here alone. I wait on the beach for Polly and Louie and wish I had worn my jacket as there is quite a breeze coming off the North Sea and the sun hasn’t quite warmed things up and its only 14 degrees. (It’s funny how in winter 14 degrees is balmy, in the summer its ny on freezing). There’s just me and the crunch of my feet on the sand. While I wait, I pursue an oyster catcher who is determined to run a few steps ahead and remain a silhouette. 

I try not to arrive anywhere with preconceived ideas. Each day, each location tells its own story. When I arrived here, I was amazed at the size of the beach. It is huge. I think that any photograph that I take needs to reflect the size of the landscape. In general, the seascape is quite featureless and I want to make my subject quite small to emphasis the size of the seashore.

It’s a shame but the sky is a flat pale colour with no clouds to break up the expanse and create some interest. Instead, I need to find some interest and texture in the sand or the image will be flat and uninteresting.  I find a spot along the shore which has some water scattered through the sand and wait.

I don’t have to wait long before Polly and Louie come into view and they walk beautifully along the beach and splash through the shallows. Polly nudges Louie into a canter and they look amazing in the morning light. I just hope I can do them justice.  I start taking photographs when they just enter the frame, giving them plenty of space to ride into. They are very small in the frame, but this gives a certain anonymity. I want people to feel that they are the rider of Louie enjoying the sands early in the morning.

Polly sends me to find beach huts at Wells-next-the-Sea which apparently is ‘just around the bend….” I walk along the dunes for at least 20mins and find nothing, I don’t doubt that they’re here somewhere and maybe that’s an idea for next time. I head back, I haven’t paid for all day parking so I am little concerned that I will get a ticket. Louie is the only horse I have seen, until in the distance I see two horses one large and one smaller galloping along the sand. They really enjoy the water. They are tiny, tiny in the distance and the car is suddenly forgotten. So, I head towards them and photograph them frolicking in the water. They are clearly enjoying the sea and splashing in the waves.

I meet Summer Eyes, a resting race horse, and Buddy, a rescue pony, from White Horse Stables. Again, these wonderful people are happy for me to photograph them and their horses. I just love the way they play chest high through the water and gallop along the beach. The sound of their hooves thundering on the sand is quite incredible. Both riders are wet through and covered in sand, despite being on the backs of these big animals.

I eventually leave and head back to the carpark, I think I have timed it just right as the beach goers are just arriving. The carpark is now full with families carrying bags, chairs and other seaside paraphernalia.

The journey takes much longer on the way home, that’s what happens, I suppose, when other people are out and about on the roads.

Once home I allow myself time for lunch. I then download the camera cards. I am surprised that I have only taken about 700 photos. Each one needs to be looked at though. I need to check that the horses are in focus and that the images convey what I have in my mind. This takes nearly 2 hours. Even shortlisted I have nearly 150 images that could potentially be THAT photograph that makes it as a print in the gallery.

Of course, I have a couple of favourites, that even just in the back of the camera had oodles of potential. These are the ones I focus on first. People often ask me if I use Photoshop on my photographs and yes, I do. Let me liken it to putting some make-up on.  I just enhance the image to how I see it in my mind’s eye. I am not going to bore you with all the technical stuff, but just like putting makeup on properly, this is not a 5 min job!