The emotional impact of a particular place varies with changing light and atmosphere – under cloud or caught by the morning sun. Although these changes are fleeting in themselves, the emotional identity and core of a place is layered: the sum total of countless transient moments.

I am fascinated by these shifts that deliver much of the visual magic we find in the natural world. In the rural landscape clours glow and fade with the movement of sun and clouds, but on the coast, with light bouncing between sea and sky the effects can be pure theatre.

The sequences I have recorded are intended more as a reference for myself and for drawings than as images in their own right, but you may find them interesting. I guess they sit withiin a tradition of exploration among landscape artists since Constable.

Cadgwith, Cornwall
I have friends, Peter and Anne, who live on a cliff top in Cornwall, outside the fishing village of Cadgwith and close to the Lizard. The house looks out towards the south east, across open sea criss-crossed by small boats and huge cargo ships. Here the light and atmosphere change constantly, but with a certain rhythmic consistency, driven by on- and off-shore winds that change with the time of day. Photo sequences document this process.

Slievenamon, Tipperary, Ireland
Slievenamon, the mountain of the women, rises 2,365 feet above the plains of Tipperary. Woven into folklore and song, it features in the legend of Fion mac Cumhail (Finn McCool) who was enchanted here by ancient fairy women. On the mountain the weather changes rapidly as moist air rises off the plains of Tipperary in swirling clouds, or descends in a mist shroud. We have friends, Judy and Christopher, who live beneath the mountain and watch the drama of light and weather each day. I have one sequence, shot over most of a day, but plan to do more.