Sometimes a project begins with a carefully thought-out idea. Mine didn't.

It began with a photograph.

In 2024, I visited Whitby Abbey with my camera. Like many photographers, I was immediately drawn to the ruins: the arches, weathered stone, changing light and the sheer presence of a building that has stood above Whitby for centuries.

I took a number of photographs that day, but this particular image stayed with me.

Looking across the grass towards the Abbey, I began thinking about more than simply whether I had taken a good photograph. I found myself wondering about the people who had built these places, the generations who had passed through them and how something constructed so long ago could still have such a powerful presence today.

That was the seed.

From one photograph to an idea

I have always enjoyed photographing old buildings, but after Whitby I started looking at them differently.

Rather than simply photographing their architecture, I became interested in the marks that time had left behind. Weathered stone, worn steps, damaged carvings, light falling through an ancient window — small details that told us these buildings had lived through centuries of change.

I also became fascinated by the craftsmanship.

These extraordinary buildings were created long before modern machinery, power tools, cranes or computer-aided design. Stone was shaped by hand and structures were raised through knowledge and skills passed from one generation to another.

The more I photographed, the more I wanted the images to say something about that.

Faith in Full Sight

Eventually those ideas became Faith in Full Sight: Abbeys and Cathedrals Through Time.

Black and white felt like the natural choice. Removing colour allowed me to concentrate on the things that had first attracted me: stone, light, texture, shape and atmosphere.

But I didn't want it to become simply a collection of photographs of abbeys and cathedrals.

I began adding my own reflective writing alongside the images. The words weren't intended to explain the photographs. Instead, I wanted them to encourage the reader to pause for a moment and perhaps think about what they were seeing.

When the book was eventually completed, I thought that might be the end of the project.

It wasn't.

Looking beyond the Abbey walls

While working on Faith in Full Sight, something had changed in the way I looked at the places around me.

I began noticing history everywhere.

An old bridge. A rusting harbour chain. A Victorian pier. A railway. A forgotten piece of machinery. Buildings that had changed purpose but continued to be part of everyday life.

I realised that history wasn't confined to abbeys, cathedrals, castles or museums.

We walk through it every day.

That thought eventually became Woven Through Time, the second book in what had now become my A Glimpse of History series.

And strangely enough, when I look back at this photograph of Whitby Abbey, none of that existed yet.

There was no book.

There was no series.

There wasn't even really a plan.

There was simply a camera, an ancient Abbey and a photograph that made me want to look a little closer.

Sometimes, that is all it takes to begin a journey.

11/08/2026