I dropped my mum off at a lunch rendez-vous she had with friends at the Yarra Bay Sailing Club (Yarra Bay Beach, Sydney, Australia) and was pleasantly surprised by the area. I remember passing through here once before, a long time ago. So I decided come back the next day for sunset.

Sunset was around seven-forty-five, I arrive around seven o’clock. Straight away I found this composition. There were people swimming but luckily they were a fair way to the right. No where near my shot. It doesn’t show mush on the photo but it was very windy. Once I setup, I was trying to take photos whenever the wind died down a little. It was very difficult as the wind never stopped blowing. The shot I wanted was just after the sun disappears below the horizon. I had a bit of time on my hands so I chilled out a bit and snapped away whenever the colours in the sky changed.

About fifteen minutes before sunset, a family of five or six come strolling down the beach. They noticed me and you can’t miss the tripod and camera but I couldn’t help thinking ‘they’re not going to walk into my frame are they? I mean they can surely see that I’m photographing the sunset’. And funny enough (not!) they walk into my composition all the while looking at me. Unbelievable! I calmed down and thought maybe they’re just here for a quick swim and they’ll be gone before sunset. Nope. Lucky for me the beach drops a bit behind those rock before reaching the water so I couldn’t see them when they were in the water. They had put their towels on the rocks but thank goodness, out of sight. They were going in and out of the water constantly and it hard to get a shot without them it. I got this one though. The sun was disappearing below the horizon and it didn’t look like they were going to leave so I did. Not far, just thirty metres to my right for a possible blue hour photo.

I was trying to avoid the wind but not having the choice gave me a good photo. Not the photo I was after but a nice one nonetheless. I love how the wind’s blowing the sand between these rocks giving the image a dreamy effect. The lack of drama in the sky and it’s pastel colours, I think, add to that effect. I like it.

View fullsize

1/500 sec @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

So this the last photo I will share from Naïa (Païta, New Caledonia). Taken from almost the opposite side of the panorama I took, here I tried to concentrate more on the reflection off the water. I went with black & white here because I tried something very different. I went for a long exposure using a piece of welder's glass as a filter. The image comes out with an extreme green colour cast which can be dealt with in post-processing but since I was converting it to black & white, I didn't need to do that. I'm quite happy with the photo. A little on the soft side but that's the kit lens' fault rather than the filter (welder's glass).

30 sec @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

View fullsize

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to Naïa (Païta, New Caledonia) to celebrate a friend's birthday. Naïa is a private waterfront residential suburb. It's about a half hour drive north of Noumea. A couple of friends bought land there but haven't started building yet. You can't really see it on this photo but there's a large pavilion on the right of the pond amongst the trees. That's where we settled for a little BBQ picnic. Just beyond the pond, you’ll find the beach with Angel Island in the distance. There are some gorgeous views as you arrive toward Naïa. I’ll have to plan a couple of sunrise/sunset shots.

For those interested, this panorama was made with 8 vertically shot photos. All taken at 18 mm, f/11, 1/320 sec, ISO 400. Stitched and processed in Lightroom.

View fullsize