I had this sort of shoot in my head for a while, so when Bethan asked to shoot with me I knew we should go for this look.

Coming from Hartlepool we have some great beaches, but not hot sunny mornings. A 6.00a.m. morning shoot was always going to be a bit chilly... and it was. The big plus side, we arrived on the beach at just the right time to start watching the sun come up over the horizon.

I got "the dogs" out and set up. I have no idea why I call my strobes "the dogs" apart from I can say "release the hounds" or "who let the dogs out?". Perhaps they remind me of barking dogs when they flash?. They are all labelled, Dog One to Dog Four so I can keep a track of them in a lighting set up and know which one to switch on, turn up or down etc..

Never having shot with Bethan before it was a great surprise and relief when she started pulling off poses. Posing people is not one of my great strengths and something I'm working hard on.

I got my settings nailed in and we shot quickly, me being worried that Bethan would freeze on the beach. This proved to be totally ungrounded as she proved to be oblivious to the cold.

We had a quick break, taking some time to chat and for me to swap lenses and pack the "dogs" away. Bethan did a quick change and we headed down to the shore for some softer style shots, using some of the old pier.

Spotting some old wooden pier legs, we decided to use them. At this point Bethan decided to fall in the sea! I nearly died and she thought it was funny and never stopped laughing. I worried from this point on that Bethan may freeze to death, but with some good stuff in the camera we decided to call it a day and head home.. mainly so Bethan could get warm.

People don't see the time that goes into editing from a shoot, this one would take me the rest of the day. I like to get the pictures edited and back to the model as quick as I can because I know they are as excited as I am to see what's in the camera.

There's a few different editing styles from the shoot, I like to play with the images, experiment and learn.

I've had a great response to these images, but most of all Bethan is thrilled with them.. we'll be shooting together again.