Tenby Point – A High Tide Sunset
The setting sun at Tenby Point beach, Western Port Bay.
On this occasion the tide was so high that the water’s edge was all the way up to the vegetation line so there wasn’t much opportunity to explore the beach. We could only walk a few short metres to the left of the access stairs and no further.
Fortunately though it was still possible to catch a glimpse of the setting sun from this position.
Sunset at Grantville Jetty
Sunset viewed from the Grantville jetty and boat ramp, Western Port Bay, Victoria.
Tooradin – Sunset at the Jetties
Fishermen enjoying a serene sunset at the Tooradin pontoon jetties.
Warneet Doorway Sunset
A view of the sun setting through the shed doorway at the entrance to Warneet North Jetty.
Corinella Barge Landing
The French Island to Corinella Barge traverses a narrow section of Western Port Bay carrying vehicles and passengers back and forth between the island and mainland.
Pictured below is a long exposure image of the Corinella Barge landing area as sunset approaches.
Tech stuff – 30 sec, f/11, ISO200, 10 stop solid + 4 stop soft grad filters.
Sawtells Inlet – Tooradin
The view across Sawtells Inlet, looking towards Tooradin Village.
Tech stuff – 10 seconds, f/13, ISO 100, 10 stop solid + 4 stop soft grad ND filters.
Blind Bight Boat Ramp and Jetty
A couple of sunset shots from Blind Bight foreshore.
The image below shows the edge of the boat ramp in the foreground with the distant land and sky lit by the sun setting behind me.
Tech stuff – 1.3 sec, f/20, ISO 50, 4 stop soft grad ND filter.
Pictured below – Looking out to sea alongside the Blind Bight jetty / pontoon as sunset approaches.
Tech stuff – 1 sec, f/20, ISO 50 with 4 stop soft grad ND filter.
Balnarring Beach Groyne Sunrise
Another sunrise expedition to the groynes at Balnarring Beach on Western Port Bay. Â This time we visited the straight groynes on the beach near the general store.
The image above was shot just before the sun broke through the clouds on the horizon. Â It’s a 2 second exposure, slightly smoothing the surface details in the water.
Pictured above – A short exposure as the sun breaks through the clouds. Â I liked the way the reflected sun rays were glinting off the waves and the foreground sand.
Pictured above – As the sun rises higher in the sky, one of the groynes becomes beautifully side lit by the warming rays. Â This is a short exposure (1/20 sec f/18 iso100) shot with the camera way down low almost resting on the sand.
Pictured above – Friend Jason preparing for his next shot as the sky lights up.
A Balnarring Beach sunrise.
A couple of dawn shots from the zig-zag groyne at Balnarring Beach on Western Port Bay.
Tech stuff –Â 10 secs, f/8, iso 100, using a 10 stop and 4 stop soft grad ND filter.
For those who might be interested in photographing the groyne, it’s easily accessible. Park at the end of Seawind Rd, Balnarring Beach. It’s a short walk down to the beach then turn right.  There are also a few straight groynes off to the left.
Tech stuff –Â 13 secs, f/8, 10 stopper and 4 stop soft grad.
Tenby Point jetty remnants
Tenby Point is a coastal village sitting on the eastern side of Western Port Bay, about half way between Grantville and Corinella. Â The jetty remnants are best visited near high tide when water surrounds the base of the posts. When the tide recedes here it goes WAY out leaving the posts sitting in an unattractive bed of mud.
Tech stuff for the image below –Â 260 secs at f/13, Â ND400 + ND8 filters.
Tech stuff for the image below – 205 secs at f/14, ND400 + ND8 filters.
Warneet Sunset
Sometimes we don’t realize what we have until we view it through different eyes.
Warneet sunset 10-04-16
Tech stuff – 60 secs @ f/16, Â 10 stop solid ND + 4 stop soft grad.
Balnarring Beach Groyne – revisited
For those unfamiliar with groynes, a groyne is a low wall or timber barrier built out into the sea from a beach to prevent erosion.
On a previous visit to photograph this groyne the tide was unexpectedly low and yielded images that weren’t quite what we were looking for. Â This time I made sure to arrive at peak high tide and waited for the tide to recede and reveal just enough of the groyne to catch these images.
A local resident told me that the zig-zagging planks aren’t always visible and that they’re sometimes completely covered by sand with only the posts exposed.
For those who might be interested in photographing the groyne, Â it’s easily accessible. Park at the end of Seawind Rd, Balnarring Beach. Â It’s a short walk down to the beach then turn right.
Tech stuff – 25 secs @ f/9 using a 10 stop solid + 4 stop soft ND grad + polarizer.
Tech stuff for the image below –Â 13 secs f/9, NiSi 10 stop solid + 4 stop soft grad + polarizer.
Tenby Point – Western Port Bay
A couple of long exposure photos from the beautifully serene beach at Tenby Point on Western Port Bay
Pictured above – The iconic tree “Ol’ Woody” and his mate, …… blowing in the wind at Tenby Point. Â Â Â Â Â Â Tech stuff –Â 30 secs f/20 ND400.
Pictured above – Erosion prevention (I’m guessing), at Tenby Point.
Tech stuff –Â 30 secs f/10 ND400.
.
Ol’ Woody at Tenby Point
Ol’Woody is a popular mangrove tree at Tenby Point on Western Port Bay.
In this image the reflection in the water has been enhanced by smoothing the surface ripples using a 180 second exposure time made possible with dark ND filters.
Tenby Point – West Jetty
A long exposure image at high tide from the picturesque shores of Tenby Point on Western Port Bay, Australia.
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.
Below – The usual straight groyne.
Below – The making of Zig Zag.
Tenby Point – The Jetty and the Mangroves
We had arrived just in time. The high tide was starting to recede giving us easy access to the beach yet there was still enough water covering the base of the jetty posts.
If you arrive at this destination at the wrong time you’ll find sticks in mud.
Below – Two images of the Tenby Point jetty remnants.
Pictured below – On the way back to the car park the water had receded enough to reveal the tangled root system on this Tenby Point icon.
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.
Below – A view from the Tooradin jetty looking back upstream towards town.
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.
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.
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.
Queensferry – a contrast of tides
Following are a series of images from Queensferry, on Western Port Bay, demonstrating the area’s vast difference in appearance between high tide and low tide. The high tide images were taken using my 40D with heavy ND filtering.
The low tide images were captured a week earlier (as reference photos) using my phone camera and post processed using an Android app called Retro Camera.
Red Bricks 146
The Docking Station – Corinella
A high tide view of the docking station at Corinella. This is where the French Island barge docks to transfer vehicles and passengers to and from the mainland.
Below – Old Man of the Sea, an old mangrove tree just a stone’s throw away from the docking station.
Tenby Point Revisited
There’s something quite magical about Tenby Point. It’s one of those areas I feel compelled to visit from time to time.
A great surprise this visit was to find the road is now surfaced with asphalt. I’m going to miss all the corrugations and pot holes that once adorned the old dirt track leading to the beach.
Snapshots from Tooradin
Tooradin is right at the top of my list when it comes to escaping for a little bit of quiet time. Located just a few minutes down the road from my home, Tooradin’s features include a serene creek that runs through the town and winds it’s way down to a great foreshore area where it joins with Westernport Bay.
The foreshore area usually has lots of parking spaces available and serves as a fine place to devour whatever delicacy you’ve chosen from the local bakery, fish and chip, or pizza shop.
Alternatively you can bring along your own boring food and make use of the BBQs.
Pictured below – The view looking down the channel towards Westernport Bay at low tide.
During low tide, large expanses of mud are exposed along both sides of the channel.
You can stroll along the elevated edge of the channel and watch as thousands of tiny crabs, disturbed by your presence, dive for cover into their tiny holes in the mud.
Pictured below – The view looking up the channel towards the main road.
Back to the serious topic of food for a moment, I highly recommend the Tooradin bakery with it’s fine selection of meat pies. They also have more sweet cake/bun/doughnut thingies than you could poke a stick at, …..and the coffee isn’t too bad there either.
The bakery is also conveniently located next to the fine Ice Cream shop, offering heaps of different flavours for those craving even more sugar. 😉
Fish n’chips must be big business in Tooradin because this tiny town has no less than two fish n chip shops.
On one side of the main road is the Tooradin Original Fish & Chip Shop and across the road is the Boardwalk Chippery. The Boardwalk shop boasts the use of “healthy rice bran oil”. The rice bran oil must be an acquired taste, …I’ve tried it but I haven’t yet acquired that particular taste,….but each to their own.
Pictured below – Down the channel a short distance, remnants of the old jetty pictured at high tide, complete with “god rays” shooting through the clouds signaling the end of a beautiful day.
Below – The same jetty remnants pictured at low tide, complete with an amazing number of mud dwelling crabs and their mud holes. 🙂
For the curious photographers who might be reading this post, the camera I used was a Panasonic Lumix LX3 in “dynamic B&W” mode with some minor corrections later in Photoshop.
If you’re interested in using any of these images or would like to purchase a high quality print then please contact me at – jim.worrall@gmail.com
Magic of the Phillip Island coastline.
Following on from previous posts I thought I’d share with you just a few more images from the Phillip Island coastline. I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface down there, …….there’s just so much beauty to explore and discover.
Pictured below – The Roost – old jetty remnants that serve as a safe roost for the local birds at Cat Bay.
Pictured below – Evidence of Life – a soft misty view of some wonderful wave action off Cowrie beach.
Pictured below – The Long Swim Home – another view from Cowrie beach looking towards the Nobbies in the background.
Pictured below – Pyramid Rock, taken in strong windy and wet conditions from a vantage point ahead of the lookout area.
In Lieu of Rapture
I’m dedicating this image to the recent passing of Rapture Day, May 2011.
Never has such a silly idea generated so much noise in the media and on social networks.
Pictured below – In Lieu of Rapture.
The image was captured at Cat Bay on Phillip Island.
A Trip to the Pointy End – Phillip Island
Over the weekend I did a quick reconnaissance trip down to the pointy end of Phillip Island.
The images below were taken on a stretch of unsealed road named “The Boulevard” which runs along the south coast of Summerlands and ends at the Nobbies. The Boulevard is a grand name indeed for what amounts to a narrow dirt track, however the coastal views can be quite impressive from here.
Pictured below – The view from The Boulevard looking west towards the Nobbies.
Unfortunately for those of us who like to immerse ourselves in these kinds of coastal environments there is no beach access permitted. We’re reminded of this fact by strategically placed signs warning of penalties for such breaches.
Pictured below – The view from The Boulevard looking east.
Pictured below – a zoomed in view of the coastline. It looks like a fine place for a photographer to play.
When finished with the south coast I made the short trip over to the north coast to visit Cowrie beach. I’ve been here once before but I had some unresolved images in my head that I wanted to try to capture here. Most of the northern coast is photographer friendly, allowing one to get as close to the water as one dares.
Pictured below – Bull in a China Shop, one of the less sedate Phillip Island waves attacking from left of frame.
Pictured below – A long exposure image using an ND400 filter, The Course of the Penguin, one of the many corridors used by the penguins of Phillip Island.
After finishing at Cowrie beach I left the island and crossed the bridge over to San Remo on the mainland. As I was crossing the bridge I noticed some amusing looking stairs below, surrounded entirely by the water of a high tide. It appeared to be a stairway going from nowhere to nowhere.
Pictured below – From Nowhere to Nowhere, San Remo.
The day concluded with a delicious meal of fish n’ chips from the Fisherman’s Cooperative, …..what bliss!
Downtime – a relaxing afternoon at Warneet
I have mixed feelings about the changes being made to the coastal village of Warneet.
Many of the grand old pine trees along the beachfront have been cut down and it appears that the main dirt roads are being surfaced. Progress, …..I guess.
Pictured below – Downtime – An iconic landmark (watermark) at Warneet coastal reserve.
Pictured below – some of the locals.
Photography by Jim Worrall 