National Parks

After debating whether or not to attempt the infamous Ngkala Rocks pass on Fraser Island, we discovered that our truck was a few cm too big! So on to plan B, I decided to capture a landscape photo of the rocks here, moss covered with the waves frothing about them.

See the capture here - https://youtu.be/GR3Xp8bB27M

 What a stunning sunset. We were having drinks and nibbles with some new friends in our campsite when the light started to shine onto the bottom of the cloud layer. I raced out of my chair, grabbed the camera and ran down to the beach as quickly as I could, to get in a position for this beautiful peach sunset at the beach.
See the capture here - https://youtu.be/GR3Xp8bB27M

Captured at Wanggalooba Creek on Fraser Island, this crystal clear fresh water creek amazed me.  A 20 minute walk from Central Station leads you along and down to Wangalooba creek, one of the most amazing spots we have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

The sand is white on the creek bed, and with just a few inches of water flowing over the top it looks dry, until you see the glistening water surface. I ducked down the creek banks and made my way down the creek, scoping out compositions on the way, before I found this.  

Watch my capture video here - https://youtu.be/03p82ufYI8Q 

The famous blue waters at the edge of Lake McKenzie, on Fraser Island are stunning when you see them, especially next to the bright white sand on a sunny day. On our first visit here we had overcast weather, so despite trying to get a photo, I wasn't happy with the result. We headed back 2 days later on a bright sunny day and captured this beauty.
The 2 paperbarks resting on the edge of the bright blue water give a different perspective of life by the lake.

Watch my capture video here - https://youtu.be/03p82ufYI8Q 

Crystal Shower Falls in full flow, cascade over the cliff edge through the lush rainforest in the Dorrigo National Park. This unusual aspect of the falls requires careful foot placement as you navigate off the path. These falls are unique in that there is an amazing cave you can walk behind the falls to. 

Capture Video Here - https://youtu.be/pxYnLHNiWLE?t=610

This small unnamed creek in the Dorrigo National Park crosses the path as you walk down to the Crystal Shower Falls. I wasn't satisfied with the image from the pathway, so scrambled very carefully down to this spot. I captured a very very different image looking downstream, and turned around to leave when I spotted this composition up stream, back towards the path. The stream cuts down through the forest.

View the capture video here - https://youtu.be/pxYnLHNiWLE?t=610

 We were walking through the high altitude forest up in WIld Cattle Creek State Forest when the weather started closing in. Amanda raced back to get our truck and bring it to the road near where we would finish the walk, and I was walking with Aria, our daughter. We crossed a small creek and reached this spot on the Mobong River. I spent about 10 minutes capturing different compositions when I started to feel raindrops on my shoulders. 

Cursing the weather, I packed up quickly and headed off through the rainforest to the road to meet up with Amanda, all of us totally soaked as she drove up to pick us up. 

Capture video here - https://youtu.be/pxYnLHNiWLE?t=1176

This is one of the prettiest rainforest spots we have seen to date. The river Allyn flows down with it's clear water rushing over the rocks, carving this small gorge. It was a difficult spot to get to, very slippery!  Check out how we captured this image on Youtube - https://youtu.be/Sh4VSiqkHzs

I spent about 45 minutes capturing this amazing spot and ended up with two amazing images, a vertical composition and this one, a landscape panorama image that shows the meandering creek flowing under the bridge of the track. My eyes are drawn to the beautiful mossy rocks and the large tree with roots stretching down to the water. The warm summer light filtering through the trees above gives vibrance and a delicate touch to the green ferns in this image.

Curtis Falls at Tamborine Mt in the Gold Coast Hinterland is a really special pocket of National Park Rainforest in the midst of roads and other tourism developments. A quick 15 minute walk from the Carpark leads you down to the falls themselves. Seriously calming, this place is full of wildlife and tranquility. This is my first released image taken on my new Sony A7RIV Camera.  It took me a good 20 minutes of experimentation to get this shot just right. 

This beautiful sand island rests in the Great Barrier Reef, reasonably close to Cairns.

Taken from a helicopter as we flew over the reef, our pilot stopped and touched the skids down on Sandy Cay for us. I took this image almost straight afterwards, as the shallow waters of the reef surrounding the island pop light and dark blues, contrasted with the super white sands.

I hope you enjoy this peaceful part of Australia. 

Story coming soon!

What can I say about this image? It was a difficult one for me both physically taking it, and mentally editing it to get it's true potential out. The location is the Pinnacles, on Phillip Island, VIC.

The hike was pretty intense, a few hard km, rushed to try and make it before sunset. As you can see, we made it! The climb down past the "No access" sign was... Sketchy... and we had a few pant wetting moments on the way down. You can see the climb down in this photo, it's the grass on the far right. Looks a lot steeper in person!

The sunset looked pretty poor, we were getting frustrated that after the long climb we would be left without a great image.

Thankfully as I was setting up the panorama gear, Amanda told me to look up at the clouds. A hint of pink was starting to show through. I hurriedly finished setting up, and started to fire off shots for a panorama I had in my head. The light show we got was just amazing and really popped the colours of the cliffs around us in this epic location. I had seen other photographers images of this place, but I don't think any of them got as lucky as I did with the beautiful colours and clouds.

Stitching the image together was a whole other challenge! My quick setup and some poor execution on my part gave me days of headache getting this image stitched. It required some serious manual stitching work and almost did my head in! I've been sitting on this trying to get it right for weeks now!

The climb back up the cliff in the dark and the 4km hike back to the car was painful, but I was buoyed by the fact that I had captured an amazing scene.

I am happy to release this beautiful image from my time in Nitmiluk.

The sun rose over the tops of the gorge, just managing to light up the tops as the clouds received the morning glow treatment.

The green foliage contrasts beautiful with the rocks, their natural hues enhanced by the golden sunrise glow.

Story coming soon!

Story coming soon!

Taken as the very last light of the day leaves the sky, this image reflects the serenity of one of the worlds most precious regions, Kakadu National Park.

The looming cliffs contrast with the extraordinarily green foliage as the vegetation here thrives even in the middle of the Dry Season.

Getting in here is a 4WD only trek, but well worth it if you can ever get here to have a look.

The National Park manages saltwater crocodiles here to make it safe to swim, you can see their boat in the foreground, and if you have eagle eyes you can spot the huge Salty croc trap on the banks of the river.

Jim Jim Falls, in Kakadu National Park created one of those life changing moments for me, the ones that you look back on in 10 years and can picture clear as a bell.

Walking in, boulder hopping and hoping not to drop all of my camera gear in the icy Outback water, I was running out of time to make it back to a spot I wanted to capture right at the last light of sunset.

I took the extra time to walk into the final pool here and it just absolutely took my breath away, that somewhere that is so changed by the seasons can be so beautiful.

I perched precariously atop a giant boulder, one of many strewn across this ancient landscape by the unstoppable flows of wet season water, and captured this panorama, stitched together from 5 separate images. It was the only way to attempt to capture the scale of this beautiful spot.

I took some time to drink it all in and really appreciate it, before heading back out to my patiently waiting wife.