by This is a story of how an image changed my life. From a glimpse in the rear-view mirror to something that keeps on giving.
I was driving up to the Lighthouse when I glimpsed in my rear-view mirror. The brakes went on then I reversed to the access track that led down to the stone building on the cliff’s edge.
I opened the car door, instantly my breath was taken away by the biting, the “Hurricane” of a wind that cut through unabated – even through me. The air was filled with spray and you could taste it being heavy with salt. The view was, in itself, breath-taking as the huge waves were rolling in licking at the top of the coastline’s cliffs and, as they did, the air vibrated with such a roar that gave you that sense of being just a bystander watching a powerful show playing out in front of you. A real “You are here” moment pointing to where we are in the Universe.
This was Christmas Day, 2004. The next day the devastating Indian Tsunami hit with around 230,000 lives were lost.
When the news came through, I remembered the day before and the power of those waves hitting the cliffs relentlessly with such force. I couldn’t even visualise the devastation such that such power could do and, every time I look at this image, it serves as a reminder to me of my place on this blue marble and those no longer here.
Yes, it still hits me that hard.
As with most things, that isn’t the end of the journey.
This photo inspired my Black & White passion and to share the stories through what I see. It showed me an extraordinary way to put across the emotion of the moment and allow the viewer to colour in for themselves with their own experiences and choices.
It was also the first photograph that I entered for a competition (not something I do really – it was an impulse thing!). I put some of my earlier work, including “White Horses At Ness” into the prestigious “Take-A-View” Landscape Photographer of the Year one year. I think I’d forgotten all about it until an email arrived I had been short-listed to the next stage and then, was a finalist. Of course, it wasn’t first place but it did give me a place in the annual book and at the exhibition for a month or two in the foyer of the National Theatre in London – there was even an opening night to attend!
The Opening Night was an experience in itself and wasn’t something to be missed. It was one of the first times that I had actually seen my photographs on a wall – quite emotional. So many amazing images on show and not end of inspiration to be had of other folk that I dared to think of my peers.
The icing was witnessing this photograph and my name under it being projected on the front of the building so that everyone travelling along the Embankment and the Thames could see it. Looking back on it, it was so surreal and almost felt that it was another life. So much so, it inspired me to enter future photographs with mixed success: two further finalist and multiple short-listings. At least, the experience allowed me to relive Opening Nights again so I could pinch myself a couple more times.
Within this simple frame, it holds all the senses of that moment it was taken, the memory of a tragedy, a start of a passion, and a story of inspiration. Most of all, it shows the apparent benign beauty of the interaction of the sea and land for the viewer to “colour in” and enjoy.
Exif:
Camera: Canon EOS 300D Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm IS USM F-stop: f/8
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second ISO: 100 Filters: None
Where I Stood (Click on the icon below you prefer to use)
Kevin Skinner Photography 
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