The Story Behind…..Findhorn – The Beach Hut

I closed my eyes, the high Summer’s Sun was scorching my face and I felt the warmth of the wood on my back as we sat enjoying the holidays. Suddenly, the Sun disappeared and I reactively opened my eyes again. Sitting in front of me, with her face barely two inches from mine, was the girl with the most stunningly wide hazel eyes and long golden brown hair. Her smile was more radiant than the Sun that she had replaced.

I remember thinking that she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen and all I could do was smile back.

It was then she kissed me.

This was my first kiss.

Her name was Dawn and was staying on holiday at the nearby caravan site for a couple of weeks. During that time, we were inseparable and met at the Beach Hut nearly everyday. Eventually, she had to go home to somewhere in England and I never saw her again.

My first love as well as that kiss. I still feel that kiss and, although I was only twelve at the time, the pain of her leaving lingers achingly with me, even today.

Strange how things stay with you.

Another memory is that of my best friend, Gary (who, incidentally, was incredibly jealous that Dawn liked me instead of him), and he used to hide his stash of cigarettes deep under the huts platform. I can still see him there with his head back laughing at one of his usual stupid jokes and wind ups, then exhaling large clouds of smoke into the air like an industrial Cooling Tower.

This Beach Hut was a meeting place for most of us kids in Findhorn whilst I lived there. The surrounding Dunes and Beach was simply our playground. At the time, my world seemed to evolve around this weathered, wooden hut.

Years later when I started my Photography, I was compelled to go back and capture an image of this Beach Hut in reverence to all those memories and, in some ways, to Dawn. This image was the result of that visit, a memento of being back to my centre of my world as it was way back then. I know it’s not perfect and there’s been plenty of folk ripping it shreds for various technicals, etc., but……….

Another twist to this story is I went back a couple of months later to find that it was gone. It is enough to say that I wept for days afterwards – probably more so than I did for Dawn as she disappeared around the corner at “The Bunty” (the villages summertime Chippy at the time).

The small clearing on which the Hut sat has now long since been reclaimed by the Dunes and grass, leaving no trace it had ever existed. I suppose, this image is some sort of historical record for so many reasons.

Personally, I love the tones and contrasts within this image. The textures of the grass still reach to me in a way that I can both feel the sharpness of its touch and detect a faint Coconut-like scent of the nearby Gorse bushes in flower on the sea breeze. All of these things are woven into my memories of my childhood in and around Findhorn – almost idyllic.

This is certainly one of my favourite images, simply because of the memories that are captured within its frame. I still look at the whiteness of the Hut’s wall and think of both Dawn and Gary. Dawn’s face appears in front of me again and that kiss still lingers on my lips – wondering where she is now? What sort of life has she had? Hoping she is happy and loved.

Gary is another story and is tinged with sadness as he is no longer with us after a car accident when he was nineteen. Glad he was in my life and for the laughs we shared, even though it was cut far too short.

Finally and to be clear, it is with a smile on my face that when I gaze up at this image on my wall. The memories are far more uplifting for me and that vivid vision of those wonderfully beautiful wide hazel eyes are still so life-affirming to me that they can bring light to a dark day, even after all these years. Then, there’s the laughter, Gary’s stupid jokes, and the crazier things we used to get up to that he brought into my life. An amazingly, golden time that is one of those that burns brightest in my history. I look at it now and feel the smile instantly bring warmth to my face as well as that moment.

The power of Photography.