Pink

Sometimes you just have to try and try (and try!) again. This is how I felt recently attempting to take this iconic Newcastle scene, but it really was worth it.

Taken on a blustery winter evening, The warm golden tones of the rocks at the Bogey Hole in Newcastle light up this image.

The rocks were extremely slippery, and I had to take extreme caution when getting to this spot, my backpack lowered down from above by my partner. Getting exactly the right composition was a challenge as the rocks fall away from where I wanted to take my image from. I used the full extent of my 2.5m Tripod to get this, as I sat perched on the rocks waiting for the perfect light.

This image is a panorama, stitched together from 4 full sized images to give me an amazing amount of detail and let me print this really large in beautiful Fine Art quality.

I have been trying to capture this overview of Merewether for many years now, coming back regularly, hoping for the perfect sunset to set the blue colours of the pools off.

I finally captured one recently. The composition requires some dangerous climbing, but it's the only way to get to what I wanted. I set up, perched on a rock ledge on the cliff and waited, patiently hoping that sunset would be a beautiful one, and not a fizzer.

Dark clouds were coming over from inland and I was extremely worried that it would block the setting sun.

I waited it out in the cold wind, sitting cross legged under my camera and tripod. Just as I was getting ready to call it an evening, the clouds on the horizon began to pick up these beautiful pink colours.

To me this image represents life in Merewether for many Novocastrians, as this is how many spend their weekends and days.

 Captured while staying at Belmont Pines Holiday Park in the Lake Macquarie area over summer, this stunning sunset looking towards Belmont 16s over Belmont Bay is a calming idyllic artwork that the area depicts. I was spoilt for choice with the caravan park surrounded by water that I left it up to the clouds to decide which direction I'd be shooting this evening. 

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.

This iconic Newcastle Landmark, the Nobbys Lighthouse, juts out in the Newcastle Harbour on this glorious sunset evening. We decided to have an afternoon splash at the beach before the cooler weather begins and of course whenever we head out for the afternoon the camera comes too.

My wife and I both haven’t been to this part of Stockton before, and it is always great to explore new places and get great photos at the same time. The sunset gave us a pastel rainbow style sky and the Harbour was quite calm, without many ships coming or going.

We had been waiting days and days for the right cloud formation to make this popular Maitland NSW view off the Belmore Bridge composition shine.

I had explored the area thoroughly and decided on this composition a few weeks ago, I loved the federation house looking out onto the river, and the curve of the river heading off into the distance.

We headed out a few times for photos of the composition when the cloud cover looked promising, but alas it was never quite right. Amanda strongly suggested that we head out again, despite my resistance (I didn't think it would be an epic sunset!) but we ended up heading out, for a walk along the levee if nothing else.

We got there just as the golden colours were starting, and I resumed my position on the Belmore Road bridge. The sunset was short and sweet, and the final picture showed a beautiful range of oranges, blues, greens and pinks. The mist off the river in the distance adds to the calm country feel of this river. It's a fair change from a few months ago during the drought when everything was brown and yellow.

It was a breezy winters afternoon when my family and I headed down to the Bogey Hole, Newcastle, intent on capturing its unique beauty for a fine art photograph. Neither Amanda or I had been here before, so it was an exciting new venture for us.

As we predicted, there was some interesting cloud cover, and we were hoping they would hang around in the right place and produce one of the elements for making a great sunset. I risked slipping over when climbing some wet mossy rocks, to test various different compositions, until I settled on the one I liked and could use for my creative piece I had in mind.

After the majority of the sunset had been, I quickly returned to the main platform which is just above the level of the water and grabbed this vertical shot. This was the second creation I imagined which shows the layers of both sky and water, as the last of the sun lit up the band of clouds.

We imagine this art piece being featured at the end of an entrance way or hallway, due to the simple, clean composition and lively summer feel.

Deep in the restoration area of the famous Stockton Sand Dunes, this tree has survived alone on its Dune.

4WD access only gets you so far, before the no driving restoration area. I reached the edge about 20 minutes before sunset and commenced my hike in to this lone tree that we spotted from the beach. It was a hard slog through the sand, and I only just managed to get to the dune in time as the sky lit up in an amazing display.

Sometimes you just get lucky and this night was one of those. I tried several different compositions, and struggled with the strong wind blowing the tree branches around, preventing a sharp shot. I hope you enjoy this simple, pastel representation of the Stockton Sand Dunes near Newcastle, Australia.

An early winter morning on the way to the Gallery saw me attempting to make my way to the beaches for what promised to be a beautiful sunrise.

A beautiful pastel vertical panorama image that sweeps you off your feet into the serenity of the ocean. Taken as sunset glows behind, the aqua water shines through the waves as they roll onto the shore.  

I tend to find myself drifting off to an unknown world when I look into the image. I wonder where I can go next in my life journey and what is on the horizon for me and my family. I can feel the sand washing out from under my toes as I sink into the image.

I created this artwork to bring some Newcastle peace and calmness to my space and remind me the future is beyond tomorrow, it is all the days ahead.

This image was taken last night at the Dripstone cliffs in Darwin.

I was busy taking panorama's, when my wife messaged me and told me she had found some driftwood that had come up with the tide.

I quickly finished the Panorama I was working on, and we jogged down to this driftwood. (not great for my bad ankle!) but the end result was worth it.

If you look carefully you can see the clouds in the distance dumping heavy rain into the ocean.

What a magical moment, caught just before it was too late, thanks to my wife.

Story coming soon!

This image was taken during a trip to Victoria at the very start of 2017. I was at Whisky Bay for sunrise (just). We had been kicked out of our sleeping spot in the carpark at Whisky Bay for "Safety", so had to drive all the way out of the park at 11pm, and drive all the way back in at 4am!

Anyway, it was dark when we headed down to the beach. I got some beautiful pre-dawn photo's which I will share with you later, however during the sunrise I spotted this outcropping of rocks and decided to climb up to see if I could get a better view.

Near the top, I saw this incredible natural feature, a slit in the rocks with the surf pounding in and out, just as the natural red lichen in the area was being lit beautifully by the rising sun.

Story coming soon!

This image is taken at the aptly named "Wreck Beach", off the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

The anchor is from a ship called the Marie Gabrielle, which wrecked on this spot in 1869, carrying a load of Tea from China. The anchor is all that remains of the wreck in this incredible location, a testament to how rough the seas can be in this spot, far from this idyllic but cold summers morning.

We parked for the night above the wreck, and made the trek down the 400 or so stairs at about 4am in order to be there for first light. Finding the anchor in pitch black conditions was no picnic, we weren't able to scout the location beforehand. Nonetheless, we made it and I set up for the image.

The sunrise was extremely dissapointing with minimal light, and the clouds above refused to fire up. I was just packing up my equipment to leave when Amanda pointed up and said excitedly, "It's happening!"

I set my stuff back up, slightly adjusted for the clouds and fired away as the clouds grew from pale grey to fluoro pink and then orange. It was all over in about 8 minutes, but it was just enough time for this shot. The walk back up the stairs was no picnic, apparently we climbed 22 stories in 340m to get back to the car.

These amazing geographical phenomenon are very interesting to photograph.

Set on a lonely windswept New Zealand Beach, we stayed the night in a nearby car park in our motorhome, before I woke up early to capture sunrise.

I didn't have time the previous afternoon to do any scouting, so had to wing it as I arrived. (Amanda stayed in bed with Aria until a bit later!)

I wasn't alone. Throughout the night we had heard vehicles arrive, and at Sunrise I was greeted with about 15 other tourists setting up cameras here.

I concentrated on myself and my composition, picking two compositions that I really liked and waiting for the right light to emerge. Emerge it did, Blue water and orange clouds combining to these spectacular colours in the wash of the waves.