Held Back by Water

Photographed at West Wittering, Held Back by Water captures the moment the sea meets resistance. Waves strike the heavy wooden groynes while the image itself is filtered through salt spray and glass, placing the viewer just behind the threshold of impact.

The surface becomes layered — water, reflection, and barrier merging into a shifting veil of light. Detail is obscured not by distance but by proximity; the sea is too close, too forceful to be clearly seen.

This work considers the fragile boundary between shelter and exposure. The wooden structures attempt to hold the shoreline in place, yet the water persists, blurring edges and softening certainty. Rather than depicting the coast as calm landscape, the image reveals it as negotiation — between land and tide, observation and immersion.

The viewer does not stand on the beach, but just apart from it, watching the elements press against the limits of protection.