I expend an awful lot of energy trying to keep people out of my images, but sometimes they sneak in.

This is three cliffs bay and this image was taken on my first (and rather lucky) visit to the area. My Wife and i were staying nearby for the weekend and i had highlighted the bay as well worth a visit. As always, the weather was going to play a big part, but so too was the tide. The weather wasn't great earlier in the day, but as time went the solid cloud slowly broke up. I got to the bay a little late in my mind as i was worried I would miss the best light. I needn't have worried but that didn't stop me going on one of my route-marches down into the bay, then up the dunes to the north east to get a good overall view. once there I was exhausted and had to take few moments to get my breath. That gave me time to look around and get some ideas. i tried a few shots where i was, which just weren't working for me but i saw exactly where i needed to be. from my vantage point over-looking the bay i could see that the tide was starting to come in from where it currently was, way out. so, having stomped up the dunes, I duly wandered back down and into the middle of the flat sandy bay.

You cant help but pre-visualise an idea of an image in your mind when visiting a place and it very often helps. But it is also important to look around and explore your surroundings.

It was now about an hour before sunset, the sky was looking great. There was not a whisper of wind and the tide was coming in quickly. Pools of water were starting to appear within the shallow depressions of the bay and getting down low revealed reflections of the sky above. That was the shot I decided upon. The bonus I wasn't expecting was a couple walking together in the distance. I had to wait a little while for them to be in the right position and all the time the tide was relentless in its progress but it was all worth in the end.