Seascapes

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.

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.

Glenrock Reserve had been on my list for a while so after leaving Charlestown, Amanda and I spotted a massive storm heading straight for us from further inland.

We quickly decided to head to a spot we had heard about but not been to yet, Glenrock Lookout. We arrived just in time to see the leading edge of the storm, and ran out to the lookout with our equipment. I scouted a few compositions but wasn’t blown away by any of the images I got.

The rain started to hit heavily, so it was a wet jog back to the car to sit it out.

As we were in the car, I started to see an amazing glow behind me, as sunset started to hit the rear of the storm overhead.  The worst of the rain was past, so I jumped back out and absolutely sprinted back to the lookout, headed to one of the compositions I had previously scouted and setup. The light lasted like this only long enough for me to capture the 3 images for this panoramic sequence. The shots before and afterward completely missed the rainbows.

This image reinforces to me the mantra of, Right place at the right time!

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.

This image was taken at Casuarina Coastal Reserve. We took our puppies for an evening play and a run around, and naturally I double booked and brought the camera equipment.

There's not much to say about this one. I took it after the sun had dipped below the horizon. It's a 30 second exposure using a few ND filters to balance the light.

I was pretty lucky that there was this much cloud being dry season, it can be quite plain without cloud cover!

Story coming soon!

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.

 Story coming soon!

 This image was taken just as the first orange glow from the rising sun came over the Darwin City horizon at this beautiful location.

We had gotten out of bed at 3:45 AM to make it here, and boy was it worth it.

I have been to Nightcliff for sunset photo's many times over the years I have lived up here, and every time found something unique to photograph.

However today I decided that I really wanted a lighter, more vibrant image of Nightcliff Jetty than my current, quite dark and purple photograph.

I have never been lucky enough before to get such a sunset as this. I headed up straight after work and my lovely wife Amanda met me there with our puppies.

I scrambled around scoping out some new area's and shots before settling on the classic rock ledge as my spot for the evening.

As soon as the sun started to dip near the horizon, I could see the water contrasting a beautiful blue, and there was just enough cloud cover to start throwing some colour over the sky.

This image of the recognisable Nightcliff ocean sunset will become a Darwin classic and will brighten homes across the country.

This playful image shows sun lovers basking in Summer at one of Newcastle’s most famous beaches, Merewether. The waves rolling in over the sand produce a beautiful intense blue that contrasts perfectly with the light yellow of the sand.

This image is a snapshot of summer, watching surfers and swimmers taken from above.

When creating this image I was aiming to bring warmth, happiness and sunshine to any space through it, whether it be a loungeroom, bedroom, bathroom or office.

I have spent many mornings and afternoons bodyboarding the Newcastle coastline and each time I look into this artwork, I am caught up in a wave and find myself reminiscing the many good times the Newcastle beaches made available.

It was a cold cold winter's evening at Catherine hill Bay, but what's landscape photography without enduring all of the seasons? We wandered around to various locations surrounding the bay and the jetty, unsure what the sunset was going to bring.

I settled on this composition as I loved the contrasting colours and the idea of how something threatened to be demolished sees the end of another day, surviving, just a little longer. Once used for loading coal, this jetty lies sleeping with many photographers enjoying its presence, its history and its unique character.

Thunderstorms in the far distance drop rain into the Beagle Gulf, north of Darwin, as another tropical sun sets.

The beautiful colours of Darwin's waters reflect the deep blue of the sky just after the sun has set.

One of my favourite images still to this day, this Mangrove standing alone in Fanny Bay is so surreal that I often get asked whether I faked it or not.

Careful framing and composition were required to give the illusion that the mangrove is completely alone, and a long exposure blurs the water as the sky floods with a soft pink, courtesy of the sunset.