Blue

 Captured Tannum Sands looking towards Gladstone, I didn't expect the sky to light up as it did. It was dull and just the sun popping under the thick clouds. I did my thing, then waited a little longer just in case and wow did it pop!! 

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

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 

Taken from the shores of the unique Lady Musgrave Island, located in the Southern Great Barrier Reef, this is exactly what all of the reef around the island looks like, blue clear water, with coral in shallow water. 

Taken from the shores of the unique Lady Musgrave Island, located in the Southern Great Barrier Reef, this artistic impression sums up the islands beauty, crystal clear blue water, white beach and green flora. 

 Captured from the shores of the unique Lady Musgrave Island, located in the Southern Great Barrier Reef, this image depicts life on the island, pure bliss. 

 Captured while staying at Belmont Pines Holiday Park in Belmont, NSW (Lake Macquarie area) over summer, this stunning sunset shows what the Lake Macquarie area is known for, fishing on calm waters. I was just managed to capture this artwork before the rain begun, but Amanda missed out as she was too slow walking with the dogs and Aria to meet me, it doesn't look like the rain was coming, but it goes to show how the weather can change so quickly. 

 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. 

Hastings Point, NSW and the Hastings Point Lookout was a picturesque location with views as far North and South as your eyes could see. Taken during Golden hour, I loved the colours and shapes of the rocks forming the base of the Hastings Point headland. I love the movement of the clear blue water in the foreground against the steadiness of the rocks. It makes me feel grounded, yet free.  

Hastings Point, NSW and the Hastings Point Lookout was a great afternoon out with my family. After taking in the views and playing on Pottsville beach it was time for some work. I predicted the clouds were going to be too thick in the direction of the sun to allow for any bright colours, however, I really liked these mossy rocks on the beach. After sending the drone up for some aerial images and footage, I turned my attention back to these gems in front of me, It is not often you get such nice mossy rocks surrounded by smooth sand.  The clouds did come to life and the reflection on the wet sand and pools of water allowed me to create this unique artwork.  

This Gold Coast Sunset artwork taken from the Ian Dipple Lagoon, really brings the warmth. The Gold Coast apartments and foreshore definitely depict the Gold Coast lifestyle. I was really hoping the sky would light up in the opposite direction however, I have no control over it so have to be prepared to bring forward my creativity on the spot and bring this moment in time to life and artform. 

Taken on a rare sunrise for me is the 3rd artwork in my Corindi Beach collection. I had previously scouted this composition from walks along Corindi Beach, NSW (in the Coffs Harbour Region) and my sunset captures. I was unsure how the tide would impact the capture, but as with all my photography artworks, unless I head out to have a look, I don't know. The hard part with sunrise is you can't really see to tell before then rushing to get the right composition.  This time it paid off and although I usually like some clouds in the sky for interest, I rather prefer the simplicity of this image and the sun rising against the blue water. 

 Newcastle Baths, my favourite photo spot in Newcastle, NSW. I love it so much because there are such a variety of things and seascapes in a small area, with 3 different sides, so no matter which way clouds are lighting up at sunset or sunrise you can get something beautiful.

These fisherman were standing right in the way of my composition, I loved the leading line of the water channel drawing the viewers eye into the image. I quickly thought about the final image I wanted and decided to take advantage of the fishermen to really set the scene, an iconic Australian past time in a beautiful setting.

This image was captured in the very middle of the Darwin dry season. The purple haze is caused by the smoke from bushfires catching the last of the sunset glow, as the aqua blue water of Fannie Bay reflects the dark blue sky above.

If you look carefully, you can see the last of the sun hitting the Paspaley Building in the city.

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.

This lone mangrove stands, watching, at the far ocean edge of the Nightcliff rock platform, and is only accessible when the tide drops low.

I headed out last night with a plan - I've been wanting to photograph this little tree for a while now but the tides just haven't been right when I've been able to get out there. Thankfully mother nature played ball for me and put on a show.

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.

Story coming soon!

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.

Whilst heading out for our anniversary dinner, my wife and I saw this gorgeous landscape laid out before us as we drove past. Pokolbin, Hunter Valley is a magical suburb containing so many beautiful small wineries.

This property sits on a low hill, and I made the most of the flowing vines leading to the house on the hill, as the last of the evening sun disappeared well below the horizon.

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.

I was driving during sunset and looking eagerly for a place with some height to capture the beauty of the regions farmland, and the river that makes it possible, when I encountered this modern bridge across the Hunter River, named Irrawang Bridge. The large reeds and trees reflecting in the still waters, and the shallow riverbanks lining this majestic river bring the countryside to your home. 

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!

Port Germaine's Wharf holds the record for the longest timber wharf in the southern hemisphere.

This image portrays the perfect sunny afternoon, which it started out as, before a large storm hit in the late afternoon (while we were out walking on the wharf!)

The vertical composition and simple colours will look fantastic in any narrow space, such as the end of a hallway.

Greg and Tarnya visited our Gallery in January as they had been looking to replace a canvas piece they had with something new and modern.

They always wanted a beautiful image of Lake Macquarie, but Greg also really liked the idea of bringing the outside in, by having a shot of their view from their balcony on their wall inside.

We discussed our commission service and Greg and Tarnya welcomed us into their home to capture the shot for them.

This amazing evening occurred on our second visit and attempt, after the weather not playing the part on our first visit.

The added bonus of a commission piece is you can be standing with us while we capture the image and they were.  Greg and Tarnya were both amazed with the light show that Mother Nature was providing. They said "we have never seen this here before, the sun rays are amazing". Upon delivery and unveiling of their 80" Acrylic Face-mount print, they told us they still hadn't seen anything like that night since and that the print was "PERFECT!".

We loved getting to know and working with Greg and Tarnya and cannot wait to see the image once it is hung on the wall. 

This was our third trip out to Merriwa, searching for the perfect Canola shot.

The rich brown earth of the region promotes Canola growth, and is even famous for it.

We drove just about every remote road out here searching, scouting for our upcoming fourth trip, when we came across this early season crop.

I set up and waited patiently for the clouds I could see in the distance to move into my composition. The clouds coming over were from a storm front we could see far away, something this extremely dry region hadn’t seen for a few months, could this shower bring just a small bit of relief for the farmers?

As the clouds started into my shot, they partially obscured the sun, allowing these sun beams to develop, highlighting the focal point of this image, the lone tree in the field, and leading your eye through towards the field of ripe Canola.

The Cliffs of Casuarina Coastal Reserve, get kissed by the last rays of the setting sun. Swell action gives the water in front of me an ethereal pattern.

I had one eye out for crocodiles and one on the scene in front of me, my tripod was sinking with every wave and the sunset was fading fast. It was an intense time trying to stay calm and composed while having so much go on around me, that I couldn't control, affecting my shot.

This image was a lucky capture that I shot while leading a photography workshop. I spent my afternoon teaching others how I go about my photography captures and after helping and setting the participants up with their compositions I decided it was my turn to have some fun. So while jumping between participants and my own camera I spent a few minutes on this one.

I love the contrast of day and night, whist showing life in Newcastle city, reflected in the Canoe Pool at Newcastle Baths.

All that remains of the Cat Bay Jetty on this famous part of Phillip Island, in Victoria, Australia.

This long exposure art image smoothes the motion of the water into calmness, lending a sense of serenity to the daylight image.

Ahhh those summer beach days, this shot of Dixon Park Beach, Merewether captures Newcastle in the Summer holidays.

I absolutely love everything this image shows; the white sandy beach, the turquoise blue water, the gentle waves, the beach goers enjoying the sunshine, it just makes my heart sing and happiness burst out.