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.

Warm evening glow bathes the timbers of the Leighton Beach footbridge in a golden hue as a small group of people gather to watch the sun make its final ascent behind the ocean’s waves.

A large sea freighter ready to collect wheat from this year’s harvest prepares to enter a holding pattern around Fremantle port.

One of the many age decorative tiles addoring the sandstone bricked walkways down to Leighton Beach.

A simple image tracing the train lines south from Leighton Beach to North Fremantle rail station and further on to the Fremantle skyline.

For a city of just 1.4m people, Perth has a surprisingly vast and efficient rail network.  That said, the Fremantle line, built in 1881 was actually closed in 1979 due to the ever expanding Stirling Highway being seen as the only way to travel.  Not surprisingly, the line was reopened a few years later and remains both a pleasant journey and a part of popular culture.

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.

Leighton Beach is one of the last remaining peaceful beaches on the coast between Perth and Fremantle.  It’s never too busy, you can take your dog, and you can always get a park.  That’s all about to change when the new developments come into play in the coming years around North Freo station and it’s sad to think this little slice of history will soon be lost to spiralling apartments and cafe lattes.

For now though, the resplendent foot bridge linking the Stirling Highway and Port Beach Road across the Freo line stands; the old comms tower is sadly no longer with us.  Hopefully the bridge, which will feature on this site over the next few days, will remain.

Baby, baby, baby, light my way.