There’s something almost hypnotic about the relentless ebb and flow of the ocean with each passing wave. As you quickly learn living on the western edge of a continent, no two sunsets are the same and the same goes for each break of the wave; the ocean is sufficiently random that you never quite know where it will go, or what it will do next. South Trigg has a protruding sandbar which ensures interesting patterns and breaks.
A well weathered advisory sign adorns the ocean’s edge at South Trigg Beach. Those playing at home have possibly seen it on this site before, quite some time ago!
For elissa, whose travels will bring her long sunsets and even longer beaches. Good luck!
The remaining sun seeking souls prepare to farewell the sun as the last faint , orange hued rays of the evening caress the shore at Leighton Beach.
A large sea freighter ready to collect wheat from this year’s harvest prepares to enter a holding pattern around Fremantle port.
The corner of the Leighton Beach footbridge is a wonderful vantage point to admire an ever retreating sun. The wind generally whips up the coast towards the camera’s vantage point and while blustery, is often very refreshing after a long hot summer day.
The flash of colour on the left hand side of the image is not an alien spacecraft and is instead an artifact created by the angle of the sun and the glass of the lens; it’s usually an undesired element, but sometimes I feel it adds to the intensity of the moment. The sun is literally so bright that you’re seeing stars.
Much of the initial part of the shoot on Leighton Beach was using the aforementioned wide angle lens. It’s true benefit is in the sense of perspective it gives and also it’s ability to empower an object. It’s one of the widest angle lenses you can get with curvature correction which means you don’t end up with the classic ‘fish eye’ view – not that there’s anything wrong with fish eye, but quite often that’s not desired in an image.
Shots for the next few days will be using the wide angle lens after which I’ll showcase some of the telephoto images.
The beautiful aquamarine and blue/greens of the Indian Ocean are highlighted in this image. More on that soon!
As a photographer I’m perpetually torn between using my wide angle (16-35mm) lens and my wide to telephoto (28mm to 300mm) lens. I learnt my craft on the latter however the former revolutionised my way of seeing things. It was quite a mindshift to think about the additional width that the lens gives you and just how to take photos to fully take advantage of that.
I’m still honing that skill, but an image like this makes me want to never take it off of the camera. Of course, as soon as I think that, I see a situation and ultimately a photo that disagrees. Certainly, when I was first starting out, it sure was easier to have a fixed lens, because, then it didn’t matter.
Freedom is both a blessing and a curse. I’m not complaining, mind.
Bennion Beach is a dog friendly beach which always lends itself to a myriad of frantically placed footsteps near the water’s edge. Each animal that wanders the beach (human included) leave their own unique mark, but none perhaps so frenetic as the canine.
In other news, I’ve posted the back story for the recent Kings Park series featuring the boab tree. Another trip is due there shortly.
As I probably tended to go on a bit about on my old site, I’m a huge fan of how things change over time and also taking the time to document them in my short passage on the face of the earth.
Bennion Beach has been a very happy photographic hunting ground for me ever since I moved to Perth and it’s nice to know that nothing has changed. A trip there a couple of weekends ago to watch a somewhat lack lustre sunset (it looked promising with smoke hanging in the air) was still saved by the immeasurable beauty of this part of the coastline including the occasional rusty pole. Some more images from this trip will follow over the next few days.
