Moonrise at Shelley Beach – Portsea
The moon rises over the calm waters of Shelley Beach, Portsea, on the Mornington Peninsula.
Tech stuff – 13 sec, f/8, ISO100
This image is available to purchase as a print here.
Shelley Beach Jetty – Portsea
A sunset long exposure image from one of the Shelley Beach jetties on the Mornington Peninsula.
This image is available to purchase as a print here.
Sierra Nevada Rock – Portsea
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.
The image is available to purchase as a print here.
Shelley Beach Sunset – Portsea
A long exposure image of a cloudless sunset at Shelley Beach, Portsea, on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula.
Tech stuff – 30 sec, f/16, ISO 100, using a 10 stop solid + 4 stop soft grad filter.
The image below is available to purchase as a print here.
Shelley Beach – Portsea
Some long exposure jetty images from a recent visit to Shelley Beach, Portsea, on the Mornington Peninsula.
Tech stuff – 6 sec, f/10, ISO100, ND400 filter.
The image below is available to purchase as a print in various sizes and forms here.
Tech stuff – 20 sec, f/18, ISO 100, ND400 filter.
The image below is available to purchase as a print in various sizes and forms here.
Tech stuff – 15 sec, f/20, ISO100, 10 stop solid + 4 stop grad filters.
The image below is available to purchase as a print in various sizes and forms here.
Sunrise at Point King – Portsea
An early morning long exposure from Point King, Portsea, on the Mornington Peninsula.
Tech stuff – 30 seconds at f/8 using an ND400 filter.
This photo is available to purchase as a print here.
Shelley beach jetty
A long exposure shot from Shelley (Shelly) beach in Portsea.
Tech stuff – 180 secs f/18, 10 stop solid ND + 4 stop soft grad ND.
This image is available to buy as a print in various forms and sizes here.
Shelley beach and Point King – ND group excursion
Last weekend we had our ND group excursion for beginners. It was a great turnout with lots of enthusiastic people attending. We started shooting at Bridgewater Bay in Sorrento in very difficult conditions with the wind blowing a continuous mist of fine rain onto our lenses. I was both surprised and delighted that so many people stayed and had the patience to put up with these conditions, …..such a dedicated bunch. 🙂 Many thanks to Jason Cincotta and Michael Stringer for assisting with so many ND newcomers.
Later we moved onto the front beaches at Point King, Sorrento, followed by Shelley beach, Portsea , both providing us with much more friendly shooting conditions.
Pictured below – Point King jetty. Tech stuff – 132 secs f/18. This photo is available to buy as a print in many forms here.
Pictured below – Shelley beach, Portsea. Tech stuff – 60 secs f/18. This photo is available to buy as a print in many forms here.
Pictured below – Shelley beach, Portsea. Tech stuff – 136 sec f/18. 10 stop ND + 4 stop soft grad. This photo is available to purchase as a print here.
Pictured below – Most of the crew from the group excursion, Bridgewater Bay.
Time Traveller – Shelly beach Portsea
13 seconds f/8
This image is available to buy as a print in various forms at RedBubble.
Sierra Nevada Rocks Selfie
An 8 second selfie at Sierra Nevada Rocks at Point Nepean, Portsea.
I’ll definitely be making a return trip to this awesome structure.
Rye Back Beach – long exposures
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.
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.
Above – Portsea beach. Quality prints available through Redbubble or Zazzle.
A Stroll on Shelley beach – Portsea
A couple of images from a recent stroll on Shelley beach, Porstsea, Victoria.
It was one of those great days for photography. The clouds were very heavy causing a nice subdued light.
The threat of impending rain also meant I had the beach to myself, ……nice. 🙂
Exploring the Point Nepean immigration quarantine station
Pictured below, the very industrial looking fumigation chambers in the Point Nepean quarantine station were once used to disinfect the belongings of recently arrived immigrants.
Pictured below, more images from around the historic buildings at the quarantine station.
Parks Victoria has a nice PDF explaining a little about the attractions here.
Underground at Point Nepean
Point Nepean is located at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay and contains old military fortifications dating back to the 1880s.
Amongst the many features at Point Nepean are the old gun emplacements which are serviced by a series of interesting tunnels and purpose built rooms buried into the hill.
The underground atmosphere is enhanced by audio loops continuously playing the eerie sounds of a military yesteryear.
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The Jetties of Portsea and Sorrento
Portsea and Sorrento are coastal villages located at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula, south east of Melbourne. They both share a wild and woolly ocean beach to the south and the much calmer waters of Port Phillip Bay to the north. As a photography enthusiast I enjoy the contrast between the ocean and bay sides of the peninsula.
In winter and early spring you can stand on the ocean beach and not see another soul, a prospect I find very attractive. The only problem is that the wild and woolly conditions that keep the crowds away also make photography difficult. A photographer here has to contend with the difficulties of high winds and sea spray, not impossible I know but very annoying when combined with the low temperatures of winter.
For this reason I’ve found myself gravitating towards the calmer bayside beaches on my last couple of trips down that way.
Below – “34 Steps” which is available to purchase as a print here.
I’ve recently been trying to consciously simplify my images by attempting to exclude as many distracting elements as possible. Whilst shooting on the bayside beaches this has been fairly easy to achieve by using long exposures to reduce the detail in the water and sky. Another benefit of the long exposures is that birds and boats can move through the frame without even appearing in the finished exposure. I used a combination of an ND400 and an ND8 filter giving me about 12 stops of darkness to make the exposures up to 30 seconds long for these images.
Below – “The Danger of Diving”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Portsea and Sorrento bayside beaches feature a wonderful collection of public and private jetties.
Below – “Outbound”, Sorrento beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Despite being technically over exposed I like the drama this high key image presents.
I like the way the sea and the sky are almost one. A personal favorite.
Below – “Nature versus Nurture”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “Boomerang”, Portsea beach, which is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “Civilization meets the Sea”, Portsea beach, is available to purchase as a print here.
Below – “The Trappings of Wealth”, Sorrento beach, is available to purchase as a print here.
Life during wartime.
A trip to Point Nepean provided some interesting photo opportunities. It’s home to Fort Nepean, an abandoned military site overlooking the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. There is an atmosphere of cold and concrete wherever you go within the underground maze of tunnels, rooms and gun emplacements.
When you wander around outside there are polite signs warning of unexploded munitions encouraging you to stay on the defined pathways.
Title – Life during wartime.
Title – Death by Machine.
Title – Grind.
The optical jewels at Sorrento.
My recent visit to the ocean beach at Portsea sparked a craving for more of the same photographic material.
This time I visited the ocean beach further along the coastline at Sorrento. The first visit to the beach was a spur of the moment decision. When I arrived there the sun was hovering just above the horizon, I had no time to explore the beach and it was a high tide. I took a few shots of the sun fading into the horizon and a few long exposure shots of waves swirling around the rocks.
Here’s a couple of the high tide shots –
The next visit to Sorrento beach was a bit better planned and I actually remembered to check the tide charts before leaving. On arrival the rock pools were at their low tide best, the sun was high enough in the sky to give me time to explore some of the rocky features yet low enough to give the area a nice warm glow.
Here’s some of the shots from the low tide visit –
Photography by Jim Worrall 