Marcoola is an area around 120km north of Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. There is around 12km of beach front with a very minimal visual human footprint. Unlike the internationally well know Gold Coast (A.K.A Surfers Paradise), Marcoola takes the more laid back approach at beach life. I thought I’d share a couple of family snaps from a trip up there earlier this year.
Enjoy
I’ve known Dave for a few years through a common love of motorcycles, but it was only recently that I found out we also shared a love for photography! After seeing some of his photos on Facebook, I asked Dave if he would like to share some on the blog and possibly make future contributions. Since I really want this blog to help show off others’ work, what better way than a photographic profile – AiM
Whitianga: 6:30am and a quiet and timid voice says, “Alex, I think you need to look out the window… don’t be mad at me for waking you up”. I dragged myself out of bed and pulled back the blinds to be greeted with an amazing sunrise over a perfect seascape… grabbing my camera I headed out the door, then back again and grabbed some clothes…
I spent over an hour walking around barefoot in the sand dunes and ocean. It was the most peaceful and relaxed I had felt the whole trip. The beach was empty, air was clear and everything seemed right! Wherever I pointed the camera there was a great scene to be shot, this morning proved to be my favourite photography moment of the entire trip.
I hope you enjoy these photos, they recreate not even 1/10th of how it felt to be there! As always click for larger images.
So my lady and I decided to head to New Zealand for a short tour around the North Island. We drove a bit over 1000km and got to see some pretty amazing sites. I thought I’d share some of my shots…
For those who are not that familiar with NZ, it’s referred to as the land of the long white cloud. This proved a constant challenge for me to get good shots as the sky was either blown out or the landscapes were plunged into darkness. I got around this in two ways; composition and HDR. Using ‘creative’ compositions in some shots meant I could limit the amount of sky in the shot and allow the camera to expose the rest of the image correctly.
The second method, HDR (High Dynamic Range imaging) meant I could combine (using software in post production) three bracketed images (-ev, 0 ev and +ev). Basically, each image would have a part of the scene correctly exposed, and when combined you end up with a blended image all elements at the same exposure level. There are lots of great sources on the web about HDR, some people are not fans as the image can look dreamy/faked etc. Personally, I quite enjoy them as they can be quite striking, plus they allowed me to make the most of an overcast situation 
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These first few photos were taken at North Head, which was a Naval installation up until 1996.
