Sunrise at Whale Beach..

Well another sunrise (surprise surprise) but somewhere altogether new. A common trend across my sunrises might be the revisit to past locations. Why? Well I find its generally a comfort factor, but also wanting to capture a favourite place in a different light (pun intended).

Daniel has been very adventurous of late and has definitely had a hand in pushing us to some new places. This time, we were looking at Whale Beach.. which is a couple of beaches south of Palm Beach on the Sydney Northern Beaches…beach. A great spot, if not a bit of a drive.. I am thinking ill have to refine my time management for the mornings. Sydney is notorious for lack of clouds.. or perhaps It is just our luck. Not on this glorious day… we were greeted with a thick cloud that didnt just sit on the horizon, but moved quickly from right to left all morning.

Being a new location it is like you are back at your first day of school.. you dont know where to stand.. who to stand next too.. what to frame. You shuffle around.. look awkward like you dont know what you are doing (ok I really dont know what im doing) and eventually I just chose a spot and stood there. This explains my process this fine morning.. we had witnessed a massive swell at Maroubra the morning before and that was on low tide.. it was still pumping a bit this morning as well so was erring on the side of caution. I wandered along the rocks as far as I could until I wanted to setup to get some pre-first light shots in. I found a spot.. didnt like it.. just as I went to move away, I saw a big wave roll in and over a rock.. and there we have it.. I set up shop.

I didnt move much, but I captured the scene for about an hour before I finally turned to the 10 stopper for some close to sunrise shots. So do the photos speak for themselves? Framing wise I wanted to get down lower, but was mindful it could be easy to get swept off the rocks there. I fully extended my tripod and lowered it to the ledge below, and kept it there whilst I perched myself up higher. This meant i was able to quickly withdraw the tripod if needed, and I was high (and dry enough) that I could easily move if there was a larger than normal set coming through.

I scouted a few spots for next time too.. perhaps with a slightly longer lens but needless to say.. very thankful of Daniel for choosing Whale Beach for a sunrise.

I have some more shots ill slowly process over time.

Till next time..