That Quiet Hour Before Dawn, Bexhill-on-Sea

I was spinning along the seafront at Bexhill this morning on my way to the marshes where I planed to shoot the sunrise at a particular bend in the road I had in mind, flanked by marsh grasses and curving into what I hoped would be smouldering red dramatic sunrise. It was four o’clock in the morning and the air was warm and still and sticky, as it had been all night – the foretaste of another hot day. But as I pedalled along the promenade I happened to glance out to sea and suddenly my plans to ride out onto the marsh were put on hold. You don’t often see the sea like this – the water like iridescent silk, delicate pink, with a pale violet haze over the horizon. It was magical, and I had it all to myself. And so I detoured to the King George V Coronation Colonnade, to use as a sort of theatre set one of its classic domes, which was glowing ivory white in the pre-dawn light, and with those delicate pinks and violets in the background, took this image – capturing what I hope is an atmosphere of pleasurable solitude and a sense of the otherworldly quality of the light and mood.