End frame: Winter Morning by Theo Bosboom

Madeleine Lenagh

Madeleine grew up in the 1950’s on the north-eastern coast of the United States. She was given her first camera when she was 18. But it wasn’t until after her retirement in The Netherlands that she plunged into her photography wholeheartedly.

Her approach to landscape photography is expressive and often abstract. She lets her moods and the conditions she encounters dictate her images. As a nature lover, she’s committed to treating nature with respect and is ambassador for Nature First, the Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography.

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There’s a print of this image hanging on my wall, where it greets me each time I make my morning coffee. The sheer beauty of it never fails to lift my heart. I can only imagine Theo’s delight at finding this beach during perfect morning light where everything conspired to make a great image: the textured sand, the crusty line of snow, the warm waves of grass, the blue waves of water, the rosy light, and the backdrop of purple mountains.

Of course, the image didn’t ‘just happen.’ Great images never just happen. It takes a lot of work to find the exact angle and the right settings to put all these ingredients together into an image that is just as magical as the morning must have felt to the photographer. That’s the hand of the master.

This photo of a beach in west Scotland just before dawn belongs to Theo’s monumental project, Shaped by the Sea, published in book form in 2018. For three years he travelled all along Europe’s Atlantic coastline, photographing more than 50 beaches in nine different countries. Each of the photos is evocative and unique. Not only a tribute to his artistry but proof that long, intensive work on a single theme can lead to imaginative and innovative art.