myday #40 - I Got Up at 4.30am to Take The First Photos of the Sunrise in Australia
Hello Steemit Followers!
I Got Out Of Bed at 4.30am :(
For those of you how may know me, I thinking that's not many of your since I have only been on @steemit for just over two weeks - you probably know that I hate getting up early for sunrise photos. You can clearly see the amount of excitement on my face! I got a call from a friend yesterday asking if I wanted to join a few photographers for a sunrise shoot at North Curl Curl in Sydney's Northern Beaches.
I said I would be happy to go as there was someone from a imaging company who wanted to meet me (strange time for a business meeting). So I crawled out of bed at 4.30am after setting three alarms and managed to drive myself into Sydney's CBD to pick up two friends before arriving at the North Curl Curl's carpark at 6.30am. The sun was set to rise at 7am.
You can clearly see my early morning enthusiasm
It was still dark by the time we finished our walk along the coastal track from the carpark to the ocean pool. Not really being in the zone, I decided to mount my XF56mm f1.2 lens on the X-T2 and take some more abstract images after noticing the rest of the group congregating around one corner of the ocean pool. It appeared each photographer was after the same shot... must have been a local thing, because I was more interested in taking photos that looked different from everyone else.
I decided to wander around and take a few shots to help tell the story of what the location was like.
The Fujifilm GFX 50S
Runoff water from the ocean pool
Interesting rock formations
The view from the rocks
Photographing the surface of the ocean pool
Trying a different orientation of the ocean pool
The waterfall being expelled from the ocean pool
The swell building
The group of photographers all after the same shot
Moving on to some of the higher rocks I was able to change my lens to the XF16mm and focus on the pounding sets of waves hitting the coastline. I tried to frame one of the lone photographers on the edge of the ocean pool to show the scale of the huge wave as it it the edge of the wall.
The sound of the wave hitting the wall was like a loud thunder clap
Seeing the intensity of the wave I decided to venture to the edge of the ocean pool myself to try and capture the wave at full height. By now the sun had risen and provided beautiful lighting on each water droplet as they rose into the air.
The sunlight glistening through the ocean spray
I think the photo above was certainly the best from the morning, however it did come at a cost. While I was waiting for the big splash there were a few big waves that swamped me as they rushed over the rocks. The swell ended up at my knee height and nearly knocked me over. For the rest of the morning I had to endure wet jeans and socks in the cold 5 degree winds. My shoes were fine, if I had waterproof pants then the freezing water wouldn't have ended up in my shoes! Man it was cold!
The result of getting the shot - saturated jeans and socks!
By now my feet were freezing and the wind was getting to intense for me to feel comfortable, so I decided to join the other photographers. I moved into position to see what the others were photographing with their cameras mounted on tripods.
Seeing what angle the other photographers were capturing
I didn't really like the angle the other photographers were capturing so I moved myself to the right hand side of the ocean pool and waited for a wave to flow over the edge. By now the sun was well into the sky and provided excellent light to make this shot glow. I couldn't have been happier with the way it turned out!
Now that I'm back sitting in the warmth of the lounge after thawing out my feet thanks to a welcome hot shower I feel that I'll leave the sunrise shots to the real enthusiasts of the photography world. I'm more than happy lying in my warm bed fast asleep!
All photographs were photographed using the Fujifilm X-T2
Are you a photographer or a traveller like me?
Use #myday to share your posts and let's see where this goes!
I'm Leigh, from Sydney Australia and through @steemit I'm seeing what its like to explore @myday. Not in any particular order, or particular time frame but just parts of @myday through my eyes and sometimes the cameras lens.
Great post, nice photos
Why thank you @elevator09! Thanks for the kind words :)
Beautiful photography. up vote!
Thank you very much @crowe! I appreciate your upvote very much!!
YO! Great shots dude!!
Cheers @chrissymchavez. Hopefully next time I don't freeze my feet off
haha worth it though!
Haha but yeah it totally was c
Kudos for your early start! These pics are amazing!
Thanks @artedellavita
Hi myday upvoted .. pkease also look on this
https://steemit.com/sunset/@janver06/my-kind-of-day-gobless-steemians
Hope you like it
Thanks for the upvote @janver06! I'll check out your post now.
Agree completely that getting up early is always a chore...
For sure! That's why I post so many sunsets! :) Thanks for commenting
Man! That was cold! And to have such an early business meeting, probably the customer loved the morning bird gets the worm ideology. :p
The shots are really nice! I can see the details from the rocks to the waves. Are those photographers hobbyists or maybe they are having a class, I wonder, but I think if you zoom between the narrow bar and shoot at the sun rise, there might be a different effect (that they might be chasing after)
*resteem
Thanks @littlenewthings. I was with the bunch of photographers. None are professional, but they certainly know how to use a camera!
You are correct in saying what they were taking photos of! Thanks for commenting.
Beautiful photos! Love that lens!! My nephew and his wife lives in Australia, so my camera and I may just be able to visit them one day, who knows! I know your weather and our weather is similar, and it's winter now, so I can just imagine how cold you must have been, being soaked like that! But is was worth it, wasn't it!
It totally was worth it! When you come to Australia you won't want to leave! There is so much to photograph here
Hey man, first of all: awesome pictures obivously. I feel you, getting up is hard. Then I want to ask: Do you feel like giving me the fuji as a present by any chance ahahhaha. keep it up bro!
Same ^^^
Thanks for the sympothy vote in relation to the early morning! Haha nice try on trying to get a camera :) Thanks for the kind words surrounding the photos @mrwanderlust :)
no problem at all. I have used all sony a7 models and recently switched to a fuji x-t2. love the colors and the user interface but the gfx would be a nice step up ;-)
It certainly is a nice camera and the image files it produces are incredible. There were two other photographers using the GFX but I didn't bring mine today. Just the X-T2 :)
ah ok. Any criticism regarding the gfx? any negative points?
@mrwanderlust you are probably speaking to the wrong person. I'm in a fortunate position to use it so I can't really say too much about it other than the good. I have heard the cost is probably the worst thing... but I hear that about every brand of camera.
ok.just wanted to hear from someone who actually has it. I dont think the quality is much better than the a7rii, but the fuji is soo much cooler. anyways, keep it up! Check out this pic I took with my X-t2.
The guy who was standing next to me had both those cameras (Sony & GFX) he said the quality from the medium format was better. The only reason he shoots with Sony still is for the wide angle, because the GFX 23mm is $4,000 and he is going to wait to buy it due to the cost. I believed him. More dynamic range on the GFX to
Wow super sharp pictures! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you @grizzman! Thanks for reading