STEPPING STONES

In the summer of 2007 my family and I embarked on an extensive photography expedition, starting in Mozambique and finishing in Coffee bay, an isolated coastal area situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This was our first visit to Coffee bay and I didn’t know what to expect prior to arrival. Funny enough the main motivation for visiting this remote area of the wild coast was to take pictures of the renowned “hole in the wall”, and although spectacular, regrettably I did not manage to photograph it during this time. What attracted my attention more were the local fisherman combined with the vast expanse of rocky beaches and high cliffs that run along the shore of this spectacular coastline.

One morning I got up very early to follow some fishermen who were probing for mussels off a nearby beach. I must have spent all of two hours photographing them as they silhouetted against the sunrise. Finally after getting the shot I decided to head back for camp. By that time the mist had lifted even more allowing the early morning light to gently filter its way through the haze. I was making my way back across a large pebbled shore when I spotted this image. The perfectly filtered light allowed some time to successfully capture the shot. I must have taken thirty to forty exposures before the light finally changed, and of all the compositions, this was the one I felt worked the best.

That day proved to be very rewarding, two shots in the morning and one seascape in the afternoon when an unexpected storm came driving in from the ocean. Wow!! If only every day could be like this!