A Picture of Port Isaac: Photographer Doon Williams

If you’ve visited our booking office, or if you’ve browsed the properties on our website, then you will already be familiar with the work of talented local photographer Doon Williams. Doon lives in neighboring Port Quin, and her photography can be divided into her personal work focussed on the ocean, coastline and wildlife, prints of which we are proud to have exhibited on our walls here, and her commercial work photographing properties and interiors, food and events.

We’re delighted to work with Doon, who produces the beautiful interior photography for our new properties, and also to exhibit her stunning art on the walls of our space on New Road.

At the end of July, as the school summer holidays started in earnest, we caught up with Doon to find out more about her connection to Port Isaac and this coastline, and her photography.

Can you tell us about how you came to be practicing your art in Port Isaac?

I grew up in North Cornwall and then I moved away to London where I was working in film and television as an art director. I loved my job more than anything but I always wanted to come back to Cornwall. I got to about the age of 30 and I felt like I’d had it with London and I needed a change of scene, even though my job was going really well and doing some amazing projects, so I came home and I ended up back in North Cornwall. I got offered a job in Rock shooting photos which I've never done before, but it was for a friend of mine and she was like, “I feel that you'd be okay doing photos.” I did take a lot of photographs when I was art directing because I had to log everything and make sure it's all in the right place, so I said yes and took a punt on being a photographer for this company. The job was taking interior photos and because I'd been doing set design for such a long time it came quite naturally. My brother's a professional photographer as well, so he helped me to get my head around cameras and it was quite a quick transition.

Cut to however many years later and I'm still here, my kids are growing up here and it's great because my family is close by. It's always been home, growing up around Polzeath and Wadebridge, so I've ended up back where I started really!

Your photography is a celebration of the local area, from Port Isaac around to Rock. What is it that you find so special and inspiring about this varied coastline?

My love of the ocean goes back a long time. I grew up around boats and on the beach. My mother is a real water person and we spent a lot of time sailing when we were kids. We did a lot of Tall Ship sailing, and we travelled a lot doing that kind of thing. From a very young age I was completely at home in the water and absolutely loved it, and spent so much time swimming around. I just grew up with his love of the water, and it was the thing that always drew me back when I was living in London.

No two days are the same by the sea, and being able to photograph that and to photograph water in every form and how it changes as the seasons change, particularly on this stretch of coastline, it's just a never-ending fascination. I could happily photograph it for the rest of my life because it's so beautiful and raw here. I can feel quite exhausted by it sometimes but the light is so magical on this coastline. I love photographing it from above with my drone, I love photographing it from the cliffs, I love photographing it up close; it's just such a beautiful part of the world and it changes every day.

Your photographic output ranges from commercial work, such as photographing properties and events, through to your personal and artistic output photographing wildlife and the local landscape. Do you treat it all as a singular creative effort, or do you actively separate how you approach the different subjects?

This is an interesting question! I think I do now treat everything that I do as one creative effort and as a collective thing, because I think my style has developed over the years and whatever it is that I'm photographing, it tends to have a similar style running through it.

Every job is different, and every job can be a bit stressful in that everything is different and you never know quite what you're going to be doing on the next job.

My personal ocean and coastal photography is obviously my passion, but I also really love photographing people and events and interiors (sometimes - depending on the interiors!) but I feel like it's all one thing. When I'm out photographing the ocean it's the most relaxing thing. It’s something that I do when I have time - I go out when I have finished all my other jobs and I've edited and sent off everything, and then I go out and it's my relaxing downtime.

As time has gone on, I've tied it all together because I do enjoy all of it equally and I think I've got a kind of a similar approach to all of it these days. I try to make it all feel “me” as much as I can, I guess!

What message or feeling do you hope that viewers take away from your work?

I feel like the message I want people to take away from my work is a kind of memory of a place and how it actually feels.

I hope that people look at my work and feel a little bit of escapism, or it reminds them of a certain thing or a feeling. I try to make my work as comfortable and I guess, it’s a bit of a silly word, but as pretty as I can because I feel like that's nice to have around and I hope that’s what people take away from my work. I want them to have a sense of love for a place, or a room, or whatever it is. I want them to enjoy what they're looking at. I'm not trying to be edgy and I'm not trying to be too wild with my photography. I don't think so. I just want people to look at my work and think, “I really like the look of that.”

What’s your favourite thing about Port Isaac, in particular?

I mean, I love the buildings! I love the cottages. I've really enjoyed photographing the cottages. I think they're just so interesting and different, and every one of them is completely different to the next one, and I love that. I also love the ocean wildlife around Port Isaac; it's magical and I would happily go out on a boat every single day and watch the wildlife. If I could do that then I'd be a very happy person!

For an area that’s so familiar to so many people, and that has been photographed and filmed countless times, how do you choose to present Port Isaac and are you always looking for new perspectives or ways to showcase our village?

I just like to photograph Port Isaac through my eyes. I'm very into the wildlife and nature side of it. I'm also really into garden photography, it’s something that I've done a lot of in the last couple of years and I just love the flora and fauna in Port Isaac all through the year but particularly the spring and summer, celebrating that. I know it's been photographed a lot, so some of the views that I've taken recently, especially the drone photography, has been looking directly down onto the water and the rocks and the interesting patterns that you get. It's not necessarily looking at that chocolate box view of the village and yes, I could do that, but I feel like I'm slightly more drawn to the patterns of the ocean around it.

I also I think I need to go and photograph more food around Port Isaac because there's some bloody good restaurants in Port Isaac and I feel like I need to get into that. There are some very cool things happening in the village and I hope I can represent it through my eyes and that people like it.

Do you have a favourite view of Port Isaac? And is it the same as your favourite view to photograph?

I live in Port Quin so I'm right next to Port Isaac and I love the coastline between Port Quin and Port Isaac, and towards Lundy. It's just amazing. But I'd say one of my favourite views of Port Isaac is actually looking up the coast towards Trebarwith; it's such a massive curve and expanse of cliff line, and that whole coastline is magical and represents my childhood, so I've spent my my life going to the beaches along there and I think looking from the centre of Port Isaac up to the North/Northeast is magical. I also love photographing Port Gaverne because there're so many rock formations there that look really beautiful from above. But looking up the coast is probably my favourite view.

How do you keep things interesting for yourself as a photographer and artist?

My work is pretty varied these days. I work for a lot of different people, I do some music and events, occasionally I get to do skincare, and then there’s feasts and food and restaurants, then some portraits and of course the interiors service, so it's really varied.

I try every year to develop and focus on a new subject area, alongside continuing to do all the other other photography jobs as well. I like to try to get better at a certain thing and so a few years ago that was event photography. Photographing food has been my development focus this year and that’s been amazing. There's so much to learn with photography that my brain is completely cooked all of the time from trying to learn it all but it’s a really good way to keep things interesting.

So I think that learning something new whenever I can and trying to go for new jobs or new subject matter and meeting new people through it is what keeps things interesting for me, and so far it's working.

As far as my prints are concerned, which is the one of my favourite things to do, I think that keeps itself interesting because every year everything changes and there’s always the opportunity to see something differently or from a completely different angle or in a different light, and I love that. I feel like I wake up on January 1st every year and think, “Oh God, am I going to be able to find anything new to photograph this year?” And by the end of the year I always do have a good collection. I'm looking outside at the sky right now - it's sunset and it looks bloody great, and if I wasn't exhausted probably be heading out with a camera to try and get a picture of that because the wind has switched to North Westerly this week so there's more cloud and more dramatic sunsets. Photographing nature is an ever-evolving adventure and it never gets boring, and I'm really lucky that I absolutely love it, so long may it last!

What is your favourite season or time of year here, and why?

I love the summer and the crystal clear water that you get in May and June. The water being crystal clear just blows my mind. But I also love the autumn and winter months because the light through those seasons is really really magical. So I love them all - I love the water in the spring and summer then I love the light in the autumn and winter. It’s magical all year round!

Can we get a few of your Port Isaac favourites and recommendations please?

Having a swim around Port Isaac is something that you've got to do if you’re able to. Even if it’s a bit wintry and cold, you never really regret it and I feel like having a swim in a sheltered cove is a really lovely thing to do.

The coastline between Port Quin and Port Isaac is absolutely beautiful, although the coast path is pretty challenging so I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but if you're fit and able then I really do encourage you to check that out because it is so beautiful along there with the views towards The Rumps.

You could very easily fill a day just wandering around Port Isaac and then finish with a beer or a glass of wine somewhere. I love a restaurant so if you can go to Outlaws then definitely do because it's great and he's a legend. And I think that just seeing a sunset whilst you’re here too.

So a swim, a walk and a nice dinner out would be my recommendations for the perfect day in Port Isaac.

You can view a selection of Doon’s limited edition photography prints (all available to purchase for your own walls) in our booking office at 29, New Road, or if you’re not in Port Isaac then visit www.doonwilliams.com