“…my old friend, I’ve come to meet with you again”.

The Sound Of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel was playing as I drove home, back along the coast. I am a fan when I am in that reflective kind of mood and have taken a number of shots to match their lyrics.

The days had drawn in, with night falling before teatime and I was ready to eat. But as I drove along the Stray, I was conscious of how dark then nights had become, the fact that my ever present camera and tripod were sitting, unused, in the boot of the car. So it was a spur of the moment thing really, pulling over, heading over the dunes for the old wooden groynes defending the sand from the high winter tides.

Despite the lack of light, I was down on the beach, the tide lapping at my feet in minutes. I have ruined good boots this way, standing literally in the sea. Tripod set up and camera out, I took several shots and this was the first, tripod positioned low, a touch of manual focus, and exposure time set for 30 seconds.

The unusual lighting is from street lights behind me, the dunes shaded me from them, but their reach extended to the top of the posts and to the sea further out.

I was still humming the tune on my way back to the car.

The shot is available as a print, canvas and  variety of other formats from here.