THE GET TOGETHER...

Whilst driving around The Entrance, I spotted this location only footsteps from the carpark. What drew me to this area were the vibrant green rocks and I knew I might be able to get a nice pre-dawn sky looking straight ahead.
On the day of this shoot unfortunately the pre-dawn sky wasn't to be, however I did have a nice set of drama filled clouds and to go with that, I had the company of the four pelicans just off in the distance. They look as though this is their morning meeting point, where they get together for a chat before their day begins. It almost reminds me of when I shoot at the local beaches, no matter what time of the year it is, I always see some old school surfers hanging out in the carparks and the daredevil's joining eachother for a morning budgie-smuggler icy swim.
Anyways I think this scene comes together nicely - even the subtle whispy stream just beyond the rocks.
I hope you enjoy.
Catchya
Josh :)

Meeting Point, The Entrance NSW © Josh Pitt

THE GUARDIANS....

This is another shot capture on Killcare beach. It was taken on the same shoot as another one of my images - Morning Swirls, Killcare NSW.
While shooting that shot I could see the clouds starting to part and the light starting to penitrate. In this shot the the light has completely penitrated an opening in the clouds and was at its picturesque best when I pressed down on my remote shutter release.
I love the soft wash across the foreground and the detail in the rocks and of course the rays of light shining through. I called this shot "The Guardians" because these rocks are the front line soldiers battling against the relentless incoming swells of the ocean. Unfortunately, this a losing battle and one day the rocks will be totally eroded away but will know that they have fought gallantly up until the day.

Catchya
Josh :)

The Guardians, Killcare NSW © Josh Pitt

ROCK SOLDIERS...

Located on the NSW Central Coast - Killcare is quite a beautiful and secluded area which I had never shot there before.
On the morning of the shoot, I rose in the pitch darkness and could see a slight silvering of the clouds in the sky - I had high hopes for a dramatic image. When I arrived on location, clouds covered the entire sky and as I stepped onto the sands it began to rain! Not quite what I had in mind. Luckily, the rain soon eased and then stopped. As I wondered around towards the rocks, I noticed some beautiful green mossy rocks that had the rough ocean washing in, out and around them. I shot a number of different intervals for this composition and this was my favourite. I think I like the swirl of whitewash eye cuddling these resiliant rocks sitting on the beach is really quite interesting. It is almost as though this rock is being protected from the ocean by his rock soldiers spread in front of him. Although big, they are no much for the ocean that manages to squeeze through their guard and continue the erosion process.

Catchya
Josh

Morning Swirls, Killcare NSW © Josh Pitt

THE RACE IS ON...

Recently, I returned to a local beach of which I haven't really explored too much before. Upon arriving there I wasn't really sure where or what I wanted to shoot. The one thing I did know was that I needed to keep an eye on the cloudy sky, because I had a feeling it was going to be good.
I wandered around testing some spots but wasn't happy with anything I was framing. I spotted some rocks on the shoreline that was being pumbled by the surf. The surf swell was quite big and rough, so I had to be careful when I ventured out on the rocks. They were so slippery!
I was trying to find a spot that created some nice lines to add some directionality to the composition, when all of a sudden off in the distance I could see a single beam of light bursting from the clouds. This is where my leisurely sunrise shoot turned into a frantic race against time to capture something different utilising the radiating sky. It was like someone fired the starters gun! The clock was ticking until the light was gone.
I spotted a gap in the rocks where the water was rushing in, but to get there I had to cross a slippery, flowing, little watercourse. Using my tripod as a three legged walking stick to balance me as I tip-toed through the stream, I got where I wanted to go. Albeit a bit wet.

By the time I had made it to this spot, the sun was higher in the sky and luckily for me, the clouds had parted enough to have created multiple fingers of light beaming through. I shot off a few frames, just so I had something to show for my effort (just incase the moment passed). Then I waited for the next lot of sets to come through, so I could have another element to my image - movement. It wasn't long until I had a nice whitewash in my foreground.
Again, a great level of satisfaction was achieved.
I hope you are enjoying my latest shots.

Catchya
Josh :)

Radiance, Wamberal NSW © Josh Pitt

THE DEADLY CAPTURE....

Whilst shooting on Avoca beach the other day, there was some reasonable cloud cover. Which if you usually read my posts, I usually carry on about how good it is to have a bit of cloud cover - 1. to create some drama and 2. to allow a long shoot, because the light stays reasonably neutral and not over exposed. This day was one of those days! After shooting on the beach, the light was still great so I ventured around the rocks to see what was new. On this day there was a bit of swell around and the water had obviously been washing up on the rocks considerably, because they were very wet and had a number of pools around.
One tip I would give (which is pretty obvious) is to watch and monitor what the ocean is doing - how often and where the water is rushing over the rocks. This is particular important if you want to get closer to the edge without getting washed out to sea. I was a little nervous at the point I shot this image because I thought I had misjudged the incoming sets, to the point of getting ultra wet, dropping my equipment, slipping on the wet rocks and being taken out to sea or all four. I stood frozen as the light rays spread from behind the cloud - creating something unusual and breathtaking. I watched as the area just beyond the foreground rock sucked dry and then the ocean began to engulf the rocky ledge. Once. Twice. And finally a third time, which was the largest. Like I said - I was frozen. Intent on making a unique image I held my ground and luckily the swell fell short of me. After checking the shot in camera, I took this as a bit of a warning and vacated the area for dryer ground and packed up for the day.

Upon reviewing the days shoot I was super stoked to see the result of my mornings work. Particularly, because I can still feel the feeling of accomplishment after setting yourself a goal and achieving it.

The Light, Avoca NSW © Josh Pitt

Seeya
Josh :)

I WAS BLINDED, BUT NOW I SEE...

...By the sky that is. Armed with a brand new set of Neutral Density graduated filters (AKA ND Grads), I set off to a location I had been to many times before, to test them out.
For those who are thinking "what the hell are you talking about!", let me give you a quick explanation.
Filters are either circular and screwed onto the lens or square/rectangle and in a specially affixed mount on the lens. There are many types of filters available today and what they are designed to do is - create effects, correct exposures and improve photos in general. The particular set I got are a series of tinted black to clear filters with varying intensities. What this helps to do, is to correct the exposure between the sky and foreground/subject. For example - when the sun rises, to a camera, the sky is a lot brighter than the foreground and needs help to expose everything correctly or as we would see it in real life. Cameras are similar to the human eye in many ways, but one thing it cannot do is compute multiple exposures in one scene. The human eye is so sophisicated it adjusts to the scene depending what we are focussed on. What this filter does is cuts out a % of light to a certain parts of the scene so it comes back into line with the fully exposed (or clear part of the filter).

In the image below I used the filters to tone down the sky so I could have the clouds visable (because they were very cool!) at the same time as the waves. I liked this shot because of the contrast water. Not in colour, but in movement. You'll notice many different things happening - to the right third of the image, the wash is almost frozen, whereas the the mid-bottom left a wave has broken right on the shore and catapulted towards me and drenched my socks you can also see the future breaks slowly moving towards the shore.

Seeya
Josh :) 

Rush, Avoca Beach NSW © Josh Pitt

CHANGING FACES....

Sometimes if pays to go back to locations you have already shot. Because they are always evolving or you may have missed something first time around.

I began this shoot with an idea where I wanted to go, but soon changed my mind because I didn't realise the amount of trees and things in the way. I started to really run late, with a fast rising sun. I made my way down to the surf club carpark at Terrigal, to try for plan B.

I got my power walk on (I really felt the buuurn) and quickly found myself around plan B - the lagoon! After some recent heavy surf it has developed a raging channel - you can see the clean cuts in the sand. It was even collapsing as I was shooting. You can see the big cracks! But what caught my attention was the water going in and out of the channel to go with the shine of the sun across the water.

Again there was a very clear sky, so other parts of the scene needed to capture people's attention in lieu of this. I hope I managed to do this.

Josh :)

Out to Sea, Terrigal NSW © Josh Pitt

THE BATTLE OF BATEAU BAY...

The Battle, Bateau Bay NSW © Josh Pitt

My first shoot out at Bateau Bay NSW. I discovered this interesting counteracting section of water which had me mesmorised by its directionality. I shood there for quite a while trying to figure out how to shoot it best. Once I got home I ended up choosing one of my first captures. I think it was because I liked the longer exposure (compared to my other shoots) - 3.2sec.

The scene almosts resembles that of a battle scene in Lord of the Rings, with both sides rushing towards each other and occasionly the team running left to right would take the spoils when reinforcements would arrive from the surging ocean behind.