Australian seascape and landscape photography

beach

Sunrise at Pulpit Rock – Cape Schanck

A wild and stormy morning at Pulpit Rock, Cape Schanck.

IMG_5597_900


Island in the Mist – Mouth of the Powlett River

A daylight long exposure image from the mouth of the Powlett River, Victoria, Australia.

IMG_5327_900


Death of the 60D

This is a commemorative post marking the drowning of my Canon 60D at Portsea beach last month. An outgoing wave pulled the sand out from under one of the legs of my tripod causing the whole rig to topple into the surf. The poor 60D was only 12 months old and was a replacement for my 40D which drowned in similar circumstances in early 2012. The event also marks the death of my Sigma 10-20mm, a true workhorse who managed to survive the first drowning in 2012.

death of the 60D jim worrall portsea

60D death jim worrall


The Beauty in the Danger

A dawn long exposure image from the Mornington Peninsula’s rugged ocean coastline.

cape schanck morington peninsula jim worrall


The Glow of Last Light – Sorrento

A long exposure image from Sorrento back beach, Victoria, Australia. The last rays of the day create a warm glow on the back of the Sphinx rock formation.

sphinx sorrento jim worrall mornington peninsula


In the surf at Kilcunda

A couple of long exposure images from the surf beach at Kilcunda.

Kilcunda ocean beach Jim Worrall

Kilcunda beach Jim Worrall


Dawn at Pulpit Rock – Cape Schanck

A couple of images from a dawn shoot at Pulpit Rock, Cape Schanck. Yes, I know, it’s not like me to be up before the birds. I don’t know what got into me. The images were taken during a welcome break between showers.
Pulpit rock Cape Schanck Jim Worrall

Pulpit Rock Cape Schanck  Jim Worrall


Seaford pier – Up before the dawn

Images from a pre-dawn trip to Seaford pier with friends from the ND400 Long Exposure group on Facebook. We arrived in the pitch black of early morning, ….a VERY unusual time for me, ….and waited for the sun to rise.
seaford pier Jim Worrall

As the sun slowly rose behind us pastel colours appeared in the sky.

seaford pier Jim Worrall

A long exposure image from under Seaford pier.
seaford pier Jim Worrall
The morning was finished nicely with a civilized hot breakfast at the pier cafe. 🙂


Playing with fire – Experiments with burning steel wool

Playing with fire, steel wool

This collection of images were captured during a couple of night time excursions by members of my ND400 Long Exposure group on Facebook. The patterns are created by igniting steel wool packed inside a metal kitchen whisk and then swinging the whisk in various ways to create the desired effects.
I recommend that if your interested in giving this a try you should wear protective clothing to prevent igniting your hair or clothes. Also stay away from areas of dry grass or bushes. A beach is a good place for trying this kind of photography. Have fun!!

Playing with fire, steel wool

Playing with fire, steel wool

Experiments with burning steel wool

Burning steel wool

Flaming steel wool - Jim Worrall

IMG_4381_900

IMG_4386_900


Fire in the Night – Mentone Groyne

A long exposure image taken at Mentone beach just after sunset.

Mentone- Port Phillip Bay - sunset - Jim Worrall


Koonya beach – Blairgowrie

The beautiful Koonya beach at Blairgowrie. A favorite spot of mine to sit and watch nature at it’s best.

Koonya beach - Blairgowrie - Jim Worrall


Jetty Remnants at Tenby Point West

Tenby Point West Jetty

Tenby Point West Jetty


Days of Azure

An image from Sorrento back beach, near the Sphinx rock formation.

Days of Azure - Sorrento beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia


Return to Mentone Groyne

A couple of long exposure images from the groyne on the beach at Mentone near the pub.

Mentone Groyne - Jim Worrall - Port Phillip Bay - Australia

Mentone Groyne - Jim Worrall - Port Phillip Bay - beach - Australia


Tenby Point – West Jetty

A long exposure image at high tide from the picturesque shores of Tenby Point on Western Port Bay, Australia.

Tenby Point - West Jetty - Jim Worrall - Western Port Bay - Australia - ND400


Signal – Ricketts Point

A marker on the outermost edge of the rock shelf at Ricketts Point beach in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia.

Signal - Ricketts Point beach - Jim Worrall - Australia


At the Edge of the Ocean

November is a great time of year on the Mornington Peninsula back beaches. The warming water signals an explosion of bright green seaweed on the rocky plateaus all along the coast.

Turbulence - Sorrento beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia

Ebb - Sorrento beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia

Pool - Sorrento beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia

Plateaus at Sorrento - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia


Rock pools at the back beach – Sorrento

Following are a couple of shots of the beautiful rock pools available to explore at Sorrento back beach during low tide. In these images I’ve used an ND400 filter to smooth the background waves and a polarizing filter to remove the sky’s reflection from the surface of the pools.

Sorrento rock pools - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia

Sorrento rock pools - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia


The Dell – Clifton Springs

Jetty remnants at The Dell at Clifton Springs in Victoria, Australia.

The Dell - Clifton Springs - Jim Worrall - Australia


A Morning at Sorrento back beach

Firstly just a quick note to let you know that I’ve updated the blog to give it a whole new look and most importantly it will now allow me to display larger images on the page. Screen sizes and resolutions have changed dramatically since I first started the blog several years ago. I’m sure you’ll agree that larger images is a step in the right direction.

The following images are from a morning trip down to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula.

Sorrento back beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia - long exposure

Sorrento back beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia - long exposure

Now for some fun shots. The two images below were taken by my friend Stephen.  He managed to catch a couple of golden moments in time where the waves got the better of me.

Jim Worrall hit by wave - photographer - Stephen Pretty

Jim Worrall hit by wave - photographer - Stephen Pretty


Corinella Sunset

Corinella Sunset - Jim Worrall - Western Port Bay - Australia

Sunset at Corinella. Taken near the French island ferry docking point.


Cat Bay and Ventnor, Phillip Island long exposures

It was a fine day with fluffy white clouds scooting along on the breeze. It didn’t take long for me to convince myself to go down along the coast and play with some dark ND filters.

Below – The old jetty remnants at Cat Bay, Phillip Island.
Cat Bay jetty - Phillip Island - Jim Worrall - nd400 long exposure

Below – The old jetty remants at Cat Bay, Phillip Island.
Cat Bay - Phillip Island - Jim Worrall - long exposure -nd400

Below – Summerlands beach, Phillip Island. I was lucky to catch this one with no footprints near it since this is a popular stretch of beach for the locals to wander on.
Summerlands beach - Phillip Island - Jim Worrall - nd400 long exposure

Below – Red Rocks beach, Ventnor, Phillip Island.
Ventnor beach - Phillip Island - Jim Worrall - nd400 long exposure

Below – Red Rocks beach, Ventnor, Phillip Island.
Ventnor beach - Phillip Island - Jim Worrall - nd400 long exposure

Below – Red Rocks beach, Ventnor, Phillip Island.
Ventnor beach - Phillip Island - Jim Worrall - nd400 long exposure

Below – Some old jetty remnants at Grantville beach, shot at dusk on the way home.
Grantville jetty remnants - Jim Worrall - Western Port Bay - nd400 long exposure


Balnarring Beach Groynes

The groynes at Balnarring Beach serve to reduce erosion at the water’s edge. Most of the groynes are simply a line of posts connected together by planks creating a straight sea wall.
I was struggling to find something interesting on the beach then stumbled across this baby zig-zagging out into the bay.

Balnarring Beach - Jim Worrall - Western Port Bay - Australia - long exposure - ND400

Below – The usual straight groyne.
Balnarring Beach - Jim Worrall - Groyne - Western Port Bay - Australia

Below – The making of Zig Zag.
Using ND400 to simplify an image - Jim Worrall


Rye back beach – The Dragon’s Head and the Pod

A few images of the rock formations at the Number Sixteen beach at Rye.

Pictured below – The Dragon’s Head rock, initially named by a local with a fertile imagination.
Dragons head rock - Jim Worrall - Rye back beach - Australia - Mornington Peninsula

Below – The Pod, ….well I had to call it something since all of the good names like Dragon’s Head had already been snapped up.
The Pod - Jim Worrall - Rye beach - Sixteen - 16 - Mornington Peninsula - Australia

Below – Water flows off the rocky plateaus returning to the ocean.
Click to enlarge.
Rye - Number Sixteen beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia

Below – A couple of images of my friend lining up his gear for the money shots.
Rye - Number Sixteen beach - 16 - Jim Worrall - Stephen Pretty - Mornington Peninsula - Australia

Rye - Number Sixteen beach - 16 - Jim Worrall - Stephen Pretty - Mornington Peninsula - Australia


Sorrento – A Mornington Peninsula Jewel

Some afternoon long exposure images from Sorrento back beach on the Mornington Peninsula, Australia. The foreground rocks are submerged at high tide and are gradually revealed as the tide goes out. A long exposure time is used to smooth out the ocean waves into a mist.
Sorrento beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia - ND400 - long exposure

Sorrento beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia - long exposure - ND400

Sorrento beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Australia - long exposure - ND400


A Sunset at Tooradin

A couple of images taken as the sun disappears below the horizon at Tooradin foreshore, Western Port Bay.

Pictured below – At high tide a mangrove sits semi submerged in the foreground as day gives way to night.
Sunset at Tooradin foreshore - Jim Worrall - Western Port Bay - Australia

Below – A view from the Tooradin jetty looking back upstream towards town.
Tooradin foreshore sunset - Jim Worrall - Western Port Bay - Australia


Catching the Instagram Train

The photography community seems to be polarized over the use of phone cameras and associated filter programs such as Instagram.
I must admit to being slow to travel down the “phone and filter” path and have only recently decided to give it a go to see what all the noise is about.

Since giving it a trial run I must admit that the use of Instagram and other similar programs has reintroduced a fresh and fun aspect to my photography.

Pictured below – Rye Pier.
Rye Pier - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Instagram

I find it refreshingly simple to just pull out my phone, click, process and even publish the image so quickly.
I also enjoy being forced to rethink my compositions into a square format after being conditioned by years of using a 3×2 SLR format.

Pictured below – A foggy morning at Tooradin foreshore.
Foggy Morning at Tooradin - Jim Worrall - Instagram

Admittedly I’ve had to resist the urge to “pixel peep” at the noise and visual anomalies created by some of the clunky filters.
This will never replace my SLR photography but I reckon it will complement it nicely. Phone photography has definitely introduced a fresh fun aspect to my photo life.

Pictured below – Mt Martha beach.
Mt Martha beach - Jim Worrall - Mornington Peninsula - Instagram


Storm at Powlett River

On the way back home from a recent excursion to Cape Liptrap we stopped off at the mouth of the Powlett River.
I had just enough time to catch this image before the rain started to pour down hard.

Storm at Powlett River - Jim Worrall - Australia


Cape Liptrap – the Lighthouse and Beach

Exploring Cape Liptrap turned out to be one of the most physically punishing excursions of recent times. The excitement of climbing up and down steep coastlines and rock hopping around the breaking surf tends to distract one from the punishment that the old leg muscles are receiving.
As I write this blog post, three whole days have passed since the excursion and my legs are still a bit wonky. 🙂

Pictured below – A long exposure black and white image of Cape Liptrap Lighthouse.
On the day we visited the cape, mother nature provided us with a sky full of interesting fast moving cloud, great for long exposure work.
If you’d like to see an alternative colour version you can see one here.
Cape Liptrap Lighthouse - Jim Worrall - Australia

Pictured below – Cape Liptrap lighthouse captured with a 10-20mm wide angle lens. When I was processing the image I initially corrected the wide angle image distortion but then the image seemed to lose something so i decided to leave the distortion in.
Cape Liptrap Lighthouse - Jim Worrall - Australia

Pictured below – A long exposure image of surf crashing onto rocks along a section of the Cape Liptrap coastline.
Cape Liptrap beach - Jim Worrall

Pictured below – A view from along the west coast of Cape Liptrap.
Cape Liptrap - along the west coast - Jim Worrall

And now for some snapshots –

John sitting on the cliff contemplating his next shot.
John Nabben on cliff at Cape Liptrap

Me sitting on the cliff overlooking the pointy end of Cape Liptrap.
Jim Worrall on cliff at Cape Liptrap

CSI officer John investigating the mortal remains of unspecified creature.
John Nabben at Cape Liptrap

Me struggling up the steep banks of the coastline at Cape Liptrap.
Jim Worrall at Cape Liptrap


Dalmeny Beach – Duesbury Headland

Following are a couple of images from Dalmeny beach in New South Wales.

The first image below was captured from the clifftop at Duesbury Headland, Dalmeny.
Dalmeny beach - Duesbury headland - Jim Worrall - seascape - australia - beach

Below, a long exposure image taken amongst the rocks and surf at Dalmeny beach.
Dalmeny beach - seascape - long exposure - Jim Worrall - ND400 - travel

If you’re in the area around brekky time there’s a cafe on Dalmeny Drive called Anton’s just down the road at Kianga. I highly recommend their excellently presented eggs and bacon.
Have a look at this beauty below. Gorgeous isn’t it!