Last spring, as the pandemic gathered pace, Cornish photographer Nick Pumphrey hatched an idea.

Each morning in May, he’d set his alarm for 4.30 am and head out for a swim with his camera, capturing images of sea, sky and coastal surroundings as the dawn broke.

The ritual quickly became a key way for Nick to combat the darkness of lockdown life and soon enough the images it produced were inspiring others to take up the mantle too.

In a beautiful new short from John Duncan, we find Scottish lensman Mike Guest on his own Dawn Days adventure, exploring the ripple effect of the original idea and the profound impact the practice has had on his own mental wellbeing over the last year of pandemic life.