The Sea Draws Breath - PX3 Bronze Winner
A PX3 Bronze Award
Sometimes the quietest photographs are the ones that stay with you.
I’m absolutely over the moon that The Sea Draws Breath has been awarded Bronze in the Nature/Water category at the PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris — an international photography competition celebrating photographers from around the world.
The photograph was made at the sea pool in North Berwick, Scotland, on the last day of 2025. It was one of those late winter afternoons when the light disappears incredibly quickly. When I arrived, the conditions weren’t particularly inspiring, but the incoming tide and the strong, graphic lines of the sea pool caught my eye. I could see the potential for some long exposure photography, and I’m always drawn to the way a long exposure can completely change our perception of the sea.
I worked through a number of different exposure times, watching how the character of the water changed with each one. Some were more minimal, while others retained more movement. I also made both colour and black and white versions, experimenting with different aspect ratios along the way.
There’s something I particularly enjoy about long exposures: finding that sweet spot where there is still enough movement in the water to give the image a sense of life, while allowing everything else to become quieter.
Then, just as the sun was about to disappear, the clouds parted.
For a brief moment, the late winter light came through, bringing a beautiful warmth to the sky. The combination of the cold North Sea, the soft movement of the incoming tide and that fleeting glimpse of sunlight was exactly the bit of luck I needed.
The Sea Draws Breath was one of several Scottish seascape photographs I made that afternoon, and I’ve included some of the others alongside the winning image. The different exposure times give each photograph its own character, and it’s fascinating how simply changing one element can completely alter the feeling of an image.
For me, photography has always been about trying to capture more than what a place looks like. I want to hold onto something of how it felt to be there — the quietness, the light, the movement and the atmosphere — and somehow bring a little of that feeling into the photograph.
The title came from standing at the water’s edge. There was something about the movement of the sea that felt almost like breathing — coming in, moving through the pool, then slowly drawing back again.
The coast is somewhere I return to again and again with my camera. I love that it asks very little of you. You can stand there, watch, wait and let everything unfold in its own time.
And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you come away with a photograph that holds onto a little of that feeling.
I’m incredibly grateful to the PX3 jury for recognising The Sea Draws Breath. I’m really happy that this quiet little seascape has received a Bronze award on an international stage.
It’s not about drama or spectacle — just sea, light, movement and a quiet moment of calm.
The photograph
The Sea Draws Breath was made with my Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG DN Art on the Sony α7R V, using a Kase 6-stop ND filter to give me the time I needed to slow the movement of the waves.
