It all started nearly four years ago on a breezy August afternoon, when Ali and I, fortified by lunchtime pasties that would come back to haunt me the following morning (don't ask), parked at Sennen Cove and began to walk up the slope out of the village along the coast path to Land’s End. We had no particular goal in mind, other than to enjoy the stroll and watch the sea. I'm always promising her dolphins and we almost never see them. In time we arrived at a spot just west of Nanjizal, where I got the camera out, pointed it towards the blue Atlantic and she lay down on a rock for a nap. And despite occasionally looking through the raw files from that sunny ocean view siesta, I’ve never sat down to edit them. I did post “The Good, the Bad and Land’s End,” from a much shorter episode later that day, and “The Evening Watch” from a glowing sunset when we were almost back at the car, but writing this is a reminder that there’s yet another completely untouched folder in the archive.
Also, I took a number of phone snaps, putting them into a collection entitled “compositions,” to be returned to later. Quite when “later” would be is a good question. Probably when the light was in the right place at another time of year. At the time we were moving in and out of lockdown, and I was still a desk slave during the week, and far too often the weekends as well. Life moved on, the folder on the phone was ignored, and other places were scouted and photographed instead.
It was only when I found myself here alone at the Edge of Eternity again one quiet April afternoon that something jolted the memory as I prepared lunch in the van. One of those old phone snaps in particular had remained in my subconscious, a V shaped gap between distinctive boulders somewhere along the cliffs with Longships Lighthouse sitting in the distance. I thought I knew more or less where I’d find it, but according to the phone, the time it was taken didn't sit with the memory of that afternoon four summers ago. Still unconvinced, I decided to walk towards Sennen Cove, frowning closely at each cluster of rocks and comparing them to the image on my screen. I walked all the way to Sennen Cove, becoming more and more certain that the phone was lying to me and I’d taken the shot on the other side of Land’s End.
It was only as I approached the car park once more, now at the last gasp tavern of hope, that I spotted the tell tale granite boulders, their angle to the path explaining why I hadn’t noticed the view as I headed in the opposite direction an hour or more earlier. By now I’d become used to employing the What Three Words app for moments like this, although I was pretty sure I wouldn’t lose the place again. I’m not entirely sure the location service on my phone is as finely tuned as it might be in any case. Entering the three word co-ordinates into my phone and marching to the spot should be straightforward, although I suspect I might have found myself two clifftops away creasing my brow in bewilderment. But having noted exactly where the spot was, I went back to the van for an early supper before sunset. Later I’d retrace my steps. Having a mobile kitchen for these days when the sun sets long after tea time is an unspoken joy.
I did go back, and I did get some shots, taking home a series of fiddly focus stacks to work on in the morning, but I knew the conditions weren’t quite right. Although what did make me happy was that I’d found a shot I hadn’t seen anywhere else before, except on my phone that is. The marker was in the can and I could return when the elements were doing their thing.
I wasn’t expecting that to be just two weeks later. This time Ali was with me, walking all the way to Nanjizal, where we took off our shoes and socks and dipped our feet into the cold Atlantic before sitting on a slab of rock by the edge of the ocean, closing our eyes and feeling the long overdue warmth of springtime on our faces. I even found another composition to return to. Also in my phone folder, but with no three word locator due to a complete absence of signal. Later, we headed back along past the V in the rocks for yet another view that had caught my eye recently, but right here I was stopped in my tracks, dragging the camera excitedly from the bag. Not only was the golden hour sunshine lighting up the grasses in front of the rocks, but a seasonal host of white bells (or three cornered leeks if my online meandering hasn't let the side down) had appeared out of nowhere in the last fortnight. Someone up there was smiling down on me this evening.
I’ve another shot in mind, but that will be much later in the year, almost certainly in winter. Meanwhile, a further group of compositions have been added to the phone, this time with chapter and verse on where to find them in case I forget again.
