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SHIFTING LIGHT AT YELLOWCRAIG

7th May 2023

Several weeks back I was having a DM convo with a friend on Instagram. My friend was talking about wanting to write a book, and the struggle of finding the time to write, not only in physical time, but in having the head space to sit and focus. This resonated with me completely. It’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time. Writing for work is different because it’s work, but writing for the pleasure of putting words together and expressing thoughts or experiences – well, that’s a different challenge. Yet, as we were saying, we make time for other things, like Instagram. I devote so many hours there, particularly on the lads’ account, so, as my friend said, why not spend an hour a day writing? Just an hour. How hard can that be?

As it turns out, hard! As I mentioned at the start of this post, I had this conversation several weeks ago, yet haven’t written anything – that isn’t work or Instagram-related – since. So, here I am again, with no pressure, and probably never devoting an hour to writing as regular readers here will know that these posts are about photos rather than text, but perhaps just some time to reflect on these walks – the walks so far in 2023.

This walk at Yellowcraig was all the way back in February. We were already making the most of the gently stretching days, appreciating every ten extra minutes of light as it appeared. And this was a day of beautiful, moody light with skies that shifted from the promise of rain out over the Forth to sunlight breaking through as we walked back along the beach at low tide, heading up into the dunes as the late light glowed on Fidra behind us.

Yellowcraig, East Lothian, February 2023.