"If you visit Poppit Sands at low tide you may well see a figure in the distance crouching over a camera and searching the sand in front of him.

That will be me.

I have been visiting Poppit for nearly a year now in what can only be described as a strange obsession with the beach and its secrets at low tide.

When I first came to Poppit it was to take a single shot and to leave. That was in May 2007 and I have been back countless times ever since. Over the months I have discovered the best time for my photography - when the low tide matches the sunset. That is when the magic happens.

Quite often I get nothing at all - the light was not quite right or I was too late to capture the best of it. However, sometimes something special happens and I point and I click and I have it. A moment on film - forever.

When it comes to camera equipment I tend to be old fashioned. I use film and older cameras. I like the trouble that I have to take in setting them up. I like the thrill of developing negatives and holding them up to the light.

I am sure that digital cameras could do the job - but for me it is the process that I enjoy - it is the thing that gets me out into the cold - and that process is wonderfully stuck in the dark ages. I tend to think that photography is about two things - Love and Luck.

You need to really love what you are doing to make it show in your work, and you need to be lucky that the light is with you and a special moment comes your way to catch. For me, my old workhorse of a camera is a large part of that love for the process.

I am now in the middle of moving on and finding ways to exhibit the Poppit work. After a selection of the shots earned me a finalist position in the prestigious Hasselblad Masters Award 2008, many doors have opened and I am in the lucky position to have the whole of August booked at Pendre Art in Cardigan for my Poppit show.

I have hopes to tour Wales with the collection, but I cannot be too far from home at the moment - my newborn son Oliver has priority. Maybe I can slip in a few visits a week to Poppit still. Just in case a new special moment appears for me to catch.

Article by Michael Jackson