Seascapes

 Amanda researched the location for this old plank jetty in Airlie Beach, Queensland. We were sitting in our caravan and keeping an eye on the sky for sunset, when we decided it was going to be a good one. We jumped in our truck and headed off, it was only a 5 minute or so drive down the road thankfully! I took a number of shots with the jetty and the surrounding mangroves, after coating myself in Bushman's for mozzies and sandflies. Ultimately the Sunset really really delivered and I was lucky enough to capture this horizontal panorama featuring the jetty and the far coast of Airlie Beach. 

 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

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. 

Sunset at Corindi Beach Point was magical this night. We were staying at the Reflections Caravan Park near Coffs Harbour, NSW where it is a short walk to the beach. Amanda convinced me to head out for sunset as the clouds were similar to the previous night where it unexpectedly lit up all around us while we were having dinner. I'm so glad she did as it was one of the most amazing sunsets we'd had in some time. I knew from swimming amongst the rockpools earlier that day that the water was a crystal clear blue so had already decided I wanted that in my artwork.  This is the first of 3 images in this Corindi Beach collection as the sunset lasted a long time and changed so much, I couldn't resist continuing to capture three totally different works. 

See the video of he three Corindi Beach captures at https://youtu.be/9PWrId2PWdI  

 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 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 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. 

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.

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.

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.

 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.