How I Took that Shot – Keith Johnson

Keith Johnson came first in Grade B in our recent 'Transport' competition with the image of the Sunbeam shipwreck below. This is how he made it:

15 keith johnson - Transport - Sunbeam

This was a shot I took in early 2013, some of you will know where it was taken but for those who do not it is a picture of the schooner, Sunbeam, which was wrecked on Rossbeigh Beach, Glenbeigh, Co. Kerry, I think in January 1904 when it was driven ashore in a gale off the Kerry Coast while on its way from Kinvara to Cork. Luckily no lives were lost, and it has lain on the beach ever since .

Anybody who walked the beach would have taken a picture of it in all conditions, sometimes covered with sand it would disappear for weeks at a time and the next high tide it would reappear, another time it would be completely empty of sand and you could get pictures of it at all times with the tide in or out .

I guess it is sadly missed by most people who walked the beach regularly, because in a January 2014 storm it was broken up and displaced from its resting place although it lay on the beach after the storm and the powers that be had the opportunity to salvage most of the Oak timbers and preserve them but unfortunately did not think it was worth it.

For a schooner built in 1860 in Exmouth Devon UK by John Walters from local oak timbers as a sailing coaster, it would have carried around 80 tonnes.It was sold and reregistered in Dublin in 1874.

It is a sad ending as it had always been a photogenic attraction for many photographers over the years.

- Keith Johnson