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Yorkshire is at it’s best when you take the small backroads avoiding the well-known tourist areas. Saturday afternoon was a chance to revisit a couple of locations that I have seen previously on dull grey days. But today the light was bright and changeable, and yes, I did end up with wet feet again.

Every time I go taking landscape photos I end up with wet feet. This morning it was from climbing over rocks in the dark to photograph St Mary’s Lighthouse near Whitley Bay in Northumberland. I discovering a young seal on a rock (below), and worried that mum or dad would be around, I moved on quickly.

I have just designed a new 44 page website for Braithwaite & Jackman. One of Leeds leading chartered architects and quantity surveyors, they wanted to showcase their commercial work for clients including Bhs, Kingfisher, Leeds Bradford Airport, Polestar, Leeds University, Norwich Union and Cambridge University Press.

Finally a day off! I have always wanted to visit Northumberland and it’s magnificent coast. I set off at 2.40am to drive 150 miles to Bamburgh Castle arriving just after 5am. I sit in the car watching ghostly waves break in the darkness, illuminated by a single lighthouse and coloured lights from passing fishing boats. At the first sign of daylight I walk along the beach. Two hours later and I have 90+ shots. I drive further down the coast and take another 60+ at a number of locations.

The thought had occurred to me at 5am that I might be a bit bonkers! But I was not one of the dozen or so surfers trying to catch a wave in the January North Sea. I returned content, refreshed and ready for another year.

For the last two years I have designed and been responsible for the monthly updates to The Countryman website. It’s brought me closer to the British Countryside and developed my interest in wildlife and landscape photography. Getting the chance to redesign it to incorporate advertising, involved changing 100+ webpages and was one of the projects that made November and December especially busy.