orthey Island in Essex is a secret island. Seen from the River Blackwater, or from the nearby sea walls around the estuary, it appears as a grassy line on the horizon, broken only by a small group of trees and the square tower of an eccentric house at its centre. The island is reached by a causeway which floods at high tide, isolating its low-lying fields and salt marshes for several hours at a time. Access is by special arrangement only and protected status as a nature reserve ensures a special kind of peace to those that go there.
Commissioned for someone connected with the island’s former owner, the aerial pictures and an on-demand photo book were made from a chartered helicopter in September 2009. The appearance of Northey is dramatically transformed from an aerial perspective. A myriad of creeks map the surface of the island and bear witness to how the sea has reclaimed three quarters of its original area. The effects of rising sea levels are clearly demonstrated in the mysterious brain-like appearance of the network of channels when seen at low tide.
