¶ Bertra Strand, Co Mayo, Ireland • January 2020

I was at one of my favourite places yesterday, a beach, and in particular Bertra Strand here in Co. Mayo, Ireland. I took the camera along as it's a beautiful location, lying as it does at the foot of Croagh Patrick and on the shore of Clew Bay. As part of my ongoing struggle to feel comfortable out and about with my camera (being an introvert this is a huge deal to me) I wore it around my neck, snapping away whenever I thought something interesting came my way and trying to get over that feeling I often have of people looking at me and wondering what the hell I'm doing.

Photography is a form of therapy for me, clearly. One that gets me out and about, gets me out of my shell and helps me deal with the social awkwardness I have always felt since I was young (I'm nearly 50 now). For someone who wants desperately to remain invisible, photography and in particular street photography can be very confronting and unpleasant.

So why do it?

Because every now and then, like yesterday, I forget all my fears and inhibitions and just pure enjoy myself. No one seemed to care or notice I was taking pictures (I wasn't the only knows one, that helped) so I snapped away. I came back with about 170 images (mostly for the bin) but that's not the point - on any other day I'd have come back with a picture of my shoes.

This couple I had been stalking(!) for some time as they walked totally immersed in eachother along the shore towards me. There was a someone flying a kite and so I had this idea of capturing these two as they walked along the beach with the kites in the background to get an idea of scale, the big skies above us and our tiny place in the universe we inhabit (blah blah blah, just take the picture ye feckin ejit). So the heaven and stars, and more importantly, the settings on my camera aligned to give me this shot.

Beach photography. It's a thing.