2024 - Issue 2 - Autumn

The relatively slow start to the year, picked up the pace in April, May and June. I was thinking that the 2024 edition of my book, was going to be very light. This is a fairly long issues, so grab a coffee, tea or beer.

April 3rd

The first session was a small day at Freshwater. I'd been itching to get into the water with my camera, but earlier in the year free time and conditions didn't align.

The usual people were in the lineup, Andrea, Graham and Rachel all making the most of a small well formed wave.

April 7th

There was some swell around, and I had some time to check out the local spot - nothing spectacular but a couple of decent banks.

May 24

The before work shoot, get up early, coffee and get in a walk to the local beach and see what is happening.

May 26

Decided to have a stroll around the North Head Barracks and the Quarantine station, there are plenty of vistas looking back to the city - it's remarkable how close we are to the city. Below you have Cedar & Salt Suna, nestled in Q-Station with the Harbour and Sydney CDB in the distance.

May 27

A good forecast for clear skies, and an early start. I had been wanting to take a closer look at the finish public art work 'Signal Fire' by Mili Mili located on the Freshwater Headland, and take some picture with the rising sun.

May 29

I often take pictures of Freshwater Beach and the surf and beach lifestyle, however I wanted to try and showcase some of the interesting business and shops, so on the walk the the beach I looked for some good angles of Albert and Moore, Mrs Jones the Baker, Shaka Cafe and of course Harbord Hotel.

I've been enjoying a nostalgic film look for my images, so I'm pretty happy how these came out.

June 1st

I had a bit of spare time, and walked down to the beach to watch the Freshwater Boardriders and get a few images for their collection. I was hoping that the rain would stop, but it was set in for the day. I took shelter, and captured part of the morning, and then dropped into Keel for some wax

June 3

The forecast for Monday looked good for some sizeable swell. I checked out Freshwater, which was out of control. No one was surfing it. I headed to Queenscliff to see if a more protected wave would be surfable.

June 8 - The Snowy

I'm popped along to The Snowy on the Saturday, to watch a few heats and get some picture, walked down from Freshwater with two cameras. The Canon 80d + 100-400mm and the Canon r6 with the 50mm prime. The intent was to use the 80d with its extra reach for the surfing action and the 50mm for the scenes.

My full gallery is here and all the photos by the volunteers here on the Manly Malibu Clubs Website.

June 10

I don't often shoot from the water during the day, often I prefer the early mornings when the light is softer and there are less crowds and especially when the tide is coming in. I can't remember why I shot when I did, most probably I had time and the conditions looked good.

June 12

When the ocean is calm, it's perfect conditions to get a stitched pano together. The wave movement is only in one frame, which makes it much easier to put a few frames together. I knew the conditions would be good and I wanted to see if my go-to location would be any good in the morning. Sadly the shadow from the headland and the morning sun reflection, are somewhat distracting

June 16

Another swell event that lined up with my availability. I headed north, seeing if some of the big wave spots were working. I ended up at a sheltered location, and took a few pulled back shots. I headed to Curly and a check to see if Diggers right would be working.

Lex, Fletcher and Dave were looking at Graveyards, so I stuck around and grabbed some shots before the light disappeared.

June 17

The swell was sticking around, and the FBI crew were heading to Deadman's for first light. Deadman's is a difficult angle to get a true sense of how critical the wave is, in reality it's the water angles that do it justice. Still the vibe and energy on the cliff is legendary.

June 28

A different walk to Freshwater, after dropping my car for a service I took the long route back home. I've picked up a second hand small compact Fuji xt30ii from a friend, it's perfect for taking everywhere and doesn't have the bulk of my Canon Cameras. The shots below are from the Fuji

June 29

I wanted to give shooting underwater, using goggles and the view finder. The almost flat conditions were a perfect time to try this, it wasn't as easy as I thought and I didn't like swimming around with the goggles on, as it does reduce visibility. In the end I would place the camera under water, aim and hope for the best.

I ended the day with a quick trip, the arvo sky looked liked it had potential for a good sunset - unfortunately, not all that good.