31 January 2017 – Not usually one for making new year’s resolutions, there was however one broad goal I set for myself at the start of this year – to be more focused and mindful of how I spend my time. In many ways 2016 was a personal wake up call, with the death of a close relative serving as a stark reminder of how short life is and how we should be making the most with the time we’ve been given.
Part of that focus for me was in spending more time enjoying nature, and catching more sunrises and sunsets. As it turned out, the decision was made easy this morning as I found myself wide awake at 2.30am (courtesy of yet another hot, sleepless night in Sydney). By 4am I was in my car, headed for a place that I had never been to before – the rock pool at South Curl Curl.
There’s just something so calming about being near the ocean. It was nice to see a few swimmers already out doing laps when I arrived, though my focus was almost immediately drawn to the jarring tungsten light from the pool’s floodlights (which would make photographing the pool a little tricky). Guessing that the lights would probably be on for a bit longer, I decided to scout out the scenery at the southern end of the pool instead.
The floodlights were still on when I returned to the pool a short while later but as the time for sunrise was fast approaching, I figured I may as well set up and test out some long exposures anyway. As you can see from the photos below, the strange colour casting produced by the floodlights along with the heavy amount of sea mist in the air added a dreamlike quality to the images.
As the sun slowly made its way above the horizon it was time to head down to the pool for some more angles to shoot from. Though initially muted by the clouds and sea mist, when the orange glow did break through it was quite spectacular.
As my shoot concluded, I couldn’t help but be thankful that my first visit to South Curly turned out to be a good one. I can’t wait to visit again soon – yet another beautiful spot to catch a Sydney sunrise.