Scotland Seaside is an image I made for a travel reportage in the autumn of 2016. I was traveling through the northwest coast of Scotland with the editor-in-chief of a major Dutch magazine. We were looking for an image of the coastline with strong dramatic lighting and, preferable, showing a vast space of sea and mountains in relation to human kind. At a certain point we found the most beautiful spot, but the lighting was dull and greyish, not with that dramatic 3-dimensional touch that one often finds in nature at specific times of the day. The spot itself was ideal, so we waited and waited.

After 2 hours the clouds opened up. Rays of sunlight shone through and hit the water close to the opposite shoreline, giving the overall appearance just the dramatic touch it needed. But apart from the ideal nature scene, I still could not show the relationship between vast space and human kind. Sometimes a photographer also needs a bit of luck and while looking at the beach below, I saw two people walking hand in hand, although not in the right spot. There was no possibility of communicating with them due to the great distance from where I was shooting. Luck was completely on my side, however, since I only had to wait a few minutes as they were walking in exactly the right direction for my ideal shot!

In hindsight, there is no way to construct these unique situations. Finding a right location and being there at the right time for beautiful lighting is already a lot one can wish for with this type of photography. When there are also two people at the right place and time in such a deserted landscape, the feeling of accomplishment can be overwhelming.