There are two public walking tracks into Bushrangers Bay that are about the same length. One track starts north-east of the bay at Boneo Road and the other track begins at the Cape Schanck lighthouse carpark, west of the bay.
We chose to walk the track from the Cape Schanck lighthouse carpark because it’s arguably more scenic and there’s a lot more carpark spaces available.
Along the sandy track there’s a couple of opportunities to look back along the coastline towards Pulpit Rock.
Further along the track the native trees enclose the path and form a welcoming tunnel.
After a bit of walking the bush track crosses the Burrabong Creek via a small wooden footbridge. Eventually the bush track opens onto the sandy beach of Bushrangers Bay. Here you’ll encounter Main Creek which cuts through the sandy beach and enters the ocean.
You need to cross the creek. You might get wet feet here depending on how much water is flowing in the creek at the time, and how far you can jump. 🙂
In the photo below, Main Creek cuts through the sandy beach on it’s way to the ocean.
After crossing the creek it’s a short walk to the beautiful rock formations and platforms where at low tide there are lots of small crystal clear rock pools exposed.
At the water’s edge the rock platforms rumble as waves slam into the steep rocky walls.
Looking back from the arch towards Bushrangers Bay, lots of people exploring the platforms and rockpools.
It was a public holiday and very busy.
When we arrived at the arch we found that much of it was in the shade with very bright background elements.
This is problematic from a photography perspective, but anyway you work with what you’re given. 🙂
Photo below – Using a nice wide lens, some ND filtering, and blending 3 exposures I ended up with a keeper that I like.
This image is available to purchase as a print here.
A long exposure image from Bridgewater Bay, Blairgowrie, on the Mornington Peninsula.
This photo was taken in harsh daylight conditions, so I opted for a black and white conversion of this one as the prevailing daytime colours added nothing substantial to the image.
Tech stuff – 5 sec, f/13, ISO50, ND500 filter.
As an interesting aside to the image above, if you look carefully you can see two blurry figures on the cliff near top left of frame. The local kids like to jump from this cliff into a rock pool below. Great fun for the brave ones! 🙂
Here’s a zoomed-in view below.
To get to Bridgewater Bay, go to the carpark at the end of St Johns Wood Road, Blairgowrie and follow the sandy walking track south. The best time to visit is at low tide. At high tide all of the rock platforms are submerged and pretty much inaccessible.
A long exposure image of Sierra Nevada Rock, Portsea.  The rock formation is on Portsea back beach, just a short walk north-west of the London Bridge rock formation. IMPORTANT – It’s only accessible at low tide.
Tech stuff -15 sec, f/14, ISO 100, using an ND400 filter.
A long exposure image of surf crashing onto the rocks at Cowrie beach on Phillip Island. Cowrie beach is located a short distance north-east of the Nobbies tourist centre.
Tech stuff – 25 sec, f/8, ISO100 using a 10 stop solid filter and a 4 stop soft grad filter.
Cowrie beach sits alongside The Nobbies, a popular tourist attraction on Phillip Island. Â The beach is home to lots of penguins and other sea birds, and is a beautifully rugged piece of coastline.
Pictured below – The view from Cowrie beach looking towards The Nobbies.
Tech stuff – 5 seconds f/11 using an ND500 filter.
Pictured below – The rugged rocky coastline of Cowrie beach, looking away from The Nobbies.
Tech stuff –Â 2 seconds f/9 ISO100 using an ND500 filter.
….and finally for some Christmas fun.  The great thing about long exposure photography is that you never quite know what you’ll catch.  🙂
This was certainly one of the more memorable excursions that my photo group has undertaken, …and in a bad way.
The rock selves at the end of Cape Schanck are hazardous at the best of times. On this particular visit two of our group members were caught off guard and knocked into water by an unexpectedly large wave.
Thankfully both guys are OK and came away from the experience with minor injuries. It could have been a lot worse.
Pictured below, the view from the rock platform at Pulpit Rock, Cape Schanck, looking across to Bushrangers Bay as the sun rises.
Pictured below, Pulpit Rock at the end of Cape Schanck.
Below are some images from this weekend’s excursion to Fowlers beach in Blairgowrie.
If you’d like to visit Fowlers beach the closest carpark is at the end of St Johns Wood Rd in Blairgowrie. Follow the track from the carpark area to the beach then turn right and follow the path for about two hundred metres. Where the wire fence ends walk down towards the edge of the cliff and you’ll see a “goat track” down the steep embankment to the beach. I would describe this as a medium difficulty access point, …not everyone will be comfortable with negotiating the sandy steep descent down to the beach.
A 155 second exposure of the SS Speke shipwreck at Kitty Miller Bay on Phillip Island. The image was taken during daylight using ND400 and ND8 filters stacked together to give about 12 stops of darkness.
You can see more long exposure images of the SS Speke shipwreck here.
Below is a series of long exposure images taken during a photography group excursion to the Bay of Islands at Sorrento. Conditions were ideal for those of us wanting to take long exposures.
It was great to see a few of the participants willing to get their feet wet to catch some good shots. 🙂
Below – 30 secs f/9
Below – 8secs f/9
Below – 15 secs f/9
Below – 13 secs f/7.1
Pictured below, some of the excursion group members setting up in anticipation of a colourful sunrise that never really eventuated.
Shack Bay and Eagles Nest are part of the Bunurong Marine Park located between Cape Paterson and Inverloch. Access to the beach is via stairs from the cliff tops.
Pictured below – A long exposure image from Shack Bay with the Eagles Nest rock formation in the background.
Pictured below – The view from the end of Eagles Nest looking out to sea.
Pictured below – Shack Bay looking back towards Eagles Nest.
Following are some long exposure images from Bushrangers Bay on the Mornington Peninsula.
The bay is accessible via a scenic walking track that begins at the Cape Schanck lighthouse carpark. Allow about an hour each way for the walk and make sure you carry some drinking water. There’s also an alternate walking track that goes from Boneo Road to Bushrangers Bay. Both tracks are about the same length.
Images from the beautiful Pyramid Rock on the rugged south coast of Phillip Island, Australia.
You can reach the Pyramid Rock car park by driving to the southern end of Pyramid Rock Road which is located just west of the Grand Prix racing circuit.
It’s just a short walk along an elevated wooden path from the car park to the viewing platform. Yes,very civilized. 🙂
Below – Basalt Beach.
A long exposure image of waves crashing on the the dark basalt rocks on the beach near Pyramid Rock.
Below – This is my friend “Wally”. He was following me around the cliff tops at the beach.
He was curious yet still cautious enough to keep a safe distance between us.
Some images from the beautiful and rugged ocean coastline at Flinders, Victoria, Australia. To find the entrance to Tea Tree Creek beach set up your GPS to locate the intersection of Keys Road and Boneo Road, Flinders. That will put you right near it.
Below – An image of my friend John Nabben, positioning himself for his next shot amongst the rock pools at Tea Tree Creek beach.
Below – A wave exploding up against a rock at Tea Tree Creek beach.
Below are a couple of images from Bridgewater Bay in Blairgowrie, on the Mornington Peninsula. This crepuscular ray sunset appeared for maybe a couple of minutes before disappearing behind thick cloud.
Pictured below – A long exposure image of the locally famous rock formation in Bridgewater Bay.
To visit Bridgewater Bay drive to the car park at the end of St Johns Wood Rd in Blairgowrie. It’s a short walk from the car park to the beach.
Following are a series of long exposure images from the front and back beaches of Flinders on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
Pictured above – Flinders. 137 seconds f/13 ISO100.
Pictured above – Flinders back beach. 102 seconds f/20 ISO100.
Following are some images from my recent long exposure Facebook group excursion to Rye back beach. It was a great turn out considering a pre-dawn meetup in the middle of winter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. 🙂
Following are a couple of images from under the London Bridge rock formation, Portsea, using my phone camera. My mate steadys himself ready to take some shots of the turbulent sea.
Above – Behind the scenes.
Above – Behind the scenes.
10 seconds, f/13, iso100.
30 secs, f/18, iso 100.
15 seconds, f/14, iso100.
48 seconds, f/8, iso200.
Photography by Jim Worrall 