I love being by the sea, particularly in the autumn and winter. It’s always different, ever changing, but always there. The power it represents is both amazing and scary; we need it but have little control over it. It’s mesmerising to watch. I look, and think about the changes that have happened to the landscape and the people who live nearby; the sea appears to stay the same and yet the beach and the shoreline are different every time. I think about the horizon and how the sea appears to go on forever and yet, at the same time, seems to end in that straight line.

I’ve chosen to produce this image in black and white as it, for me, emphasises the spray and the foam, the shapes and the lines, the wateriness of it. I took it on a very cold day, on my favourite beach in North Devon. I have walked there many times, in all weathers; for me it’s a source of pleasure and contentment. It reminds me of how much can be gained from just being in an environment, moving, being by the water. It’s also a place where family memories have been made – my, now grown, children have played and swum in the waves, danced on the sand and gathered shells. The layers of those memories are like the waves, always there, always being superseded by new ones, always making me happy.