London Bridge — Pix Escapes Blog

Everyone says everything is insane these days. What's insane is that nobody else was out to photograph this evening. It felt surreal being the only person on such an isolated beach. It's an amazing place. But not insane. Some have suggested that it could be dangerous here because there are signs nearby warning of "Unexploded bombs!". However, I doubt it. Although I was alone tonight there remained many footprints on the beach and none ended abruptly. But I digress.

The sunset was beautiful. The sky wasn't super dramatic. But it was still a blessing to be close to the raging ocean clicking away on the shutter as the sun sank beneath the waves. Here are a few clicks.

A ten second shot at 20:08 (7 minutes to sunset)

A 0.8s shot at 19:50 (25 minutes before sunset)

Through the looking glass (3s exposure at 19:47. Cropped, no other edits).

I won't bore you with extensive details. But to really explore the Mornington Peninsula would take many days, weeks, even months. I went down to Portsea and photographed an interesting jetty at Shelley Beach. Then I skipped to the 'Ocean' side and made my way to "London Bridge" where several spectacular rock formations can be found and explored. Preferably at low tide. I shot it at 0.4m.

Next I visited Bridgewater Bay, at Blairgowrie (Ocean Beach) to try to photograph the "Keyhole" rock. Unless one descends the cliff face near the subject (not advisable) this location is best approached at or near low tide. Walk down the steps to the beach, then turn left and cross the rocky shelf. Take strong water capable shoes. Depending on conditions and how close you wish to get, this could be a very challenging location to photograph well. One must watch the sea. So preset almost everything (on the camera) and then quickly approach the target (well there would be many options but my target was quite near to the incoming waves), position tripod down, level camera asap, and get a handful of shots. Then grab the gear and retreat. Tide was nearer to 0.5m and really would have been better a little lower. I feel like I didn't totally nail the focus in my favourite shot. In fact I made more mistakes than I would if I'd been there before. So I'll be back soon.

I guess I'll be learning all about swell size soon as it also impacts how one can / cannot shoot at sea-level locations.

Cliff Jumping at Keyhole Rock, Blairgowrie

Square-shaped Jetty, Shelley Beach, Portsea