Photography

Zig Zag Station

The old Lithgow Zig Zag Railway line in Australia’s Blue Mountains operated from 1869 to 1910, after which it was replaced by a new deviation that operates to this day. The Clarence Station was the centre of a railway town during this time, but today the restored station is

Photography

Operatic Sunrise

Happy New Year Wishing everyone all the best for a safe, happy and successful 2015. Operatic Sunrise Today is New Years Eve, and the world’s eyes are on Sydney Harbour as one of the major focal points for seeing in the New Year. This image of the Sydney Opera

The Lights Are On

Christmas is a magical time in many cities, with colourful lights everywhere. For a photographer, getting to places where the lights are on when the crowds aren’t there either means an early start or staying late. In Sydney this can be especially challenging with some shopping centres now open

Fans of the Sea

Uepi Island, in the Solomon Islands, is perhaps the best diving destination I’ve visited to date – and I’ve had the fortune to visit a few. Uepi is resplendent in corals, sharks, rays, sinkholes, caves, sheer walls, tropical fish life and even a ‘vertical wreck’, but for me the

Rays of Light in Cairns

Cairns in Far North Queensland is quite a magical place, being a jump off point to the northern parts of the Great Barrier Reef, as well as access to the Atherton Tablelands. The natural beauty of the city and its immediate surrounds is something that should not be overlooked. I

Photography

Narrabeen Pool

Sydney has a lot of wonderful ocean pools, most of which are photogenic, particularly at sunrise and sunset. The pool at Narrabeen on the Northern Beaches is perhaps one of the most interesting photographically, and is an extremely worthwhile destination for pre-sunrise photography. The beautiful light in the morning twilight,

No Diving No Dogs No Stairs

Sunrise at Mahon Pool, near Maroubra in Sydney’s east. On a morning with sunrise potential, there are often photographers out at Mahon Pool. Most are shooting the sun rising over the pool or the nearby rocks. After the sun has risen, most pack up and go, but it is

Photography

Links to Sunrise

Sunrise at Mahon Pool, near Maroubra in Sydney’s east. The chain fence around the pool was the key feature for this image, and I used it to form the basis for the composition. The chain fence is a leading line through the photo, and the key linking feature—the

Photography

A Morning at the Opera

Sydney Harbour is one of the most scenic harbours in the world, at least in part due to some of the world famous landmarks like the Sydney Opera House. The image was made from Milsons Point using a Nikon 18–200mm telephoto zoom. Finding the right position was challenging because

Pool of Fire

Sunrise at Mahon Pool, near Maroubra in Sydney’s east. The ‘golden hour’ before sunrise is generally a magic time for photography. A site like Mahon Pool is magic on a slightly cloudy day at sunrise, with the intense redness being reflected into both the sea and the pool. Not

Night

Vivid on The Rocks

Vivid on The Rocks Vivid Sydney is a festival of light that takes place every May around CBD precincts, including Circular Quay, The Rocks, Martin Place and Darling Harbour. This image was created at The Rocks, one of the oldest parts of Sydney, with the CDB lit up in the

Solomon Islands

Feeding Time

Time to post an underwater image! To be honest, I am not sure how exactly I feel about shark feeds. In general, shark feeding can change shark behaviour—making them reliant on being fed at a certain time and certain place, and perhaps on food stuff they wouldn’t normally

photo mindset

Do You Make or Take Your Photos

The following article was originally published on my website BlueBeyond.com.au. I’ve decided to move it over here for reference. Recently I read a great book called The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography by Galen Rowell , a renowned outdoor photographer from the US. This book is one of

Sydney

Cronulla Pools at Sunrise

The pools around the beaches on the NSW coastline are stunning locations for photography—especially with the east coast sunrise. There are dozens of these pools along the Sydney coast, with several picturesque ones at the southern suburb of Cronulla. This image was made in April 2014 and really brought

Navy

USS Bonhomme Richard in Sydney

In August 2013 USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 06) paid a visit to Sydney’s Fleet Base East. Bonhomme Richard is a Landing Helicopter Dock (aka Ambhibious Assault Ship) that is capable of carrying helicopters, STOVL fighters and a large force of embarked marines that can be landed by helicopter or

Canberra

Early Light

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is a wonderful celebration of the contributions and sacrifices by the Nation’s sailors, soldiers and airmen at home and abroad. Whilst war should not be celebrated, we should never forget the hardship and loss suffered in the name of our national interests. The

Travel

Welcome to Uepi

Getting to Uepi Island Resort is an adventure in itself – it is one of the most hidden away places you can imagine. First you must fly to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. Then a domestic flight to Seghe. Then a short walk through bush to the water’s

UW Photography

Dekudekuru Split

Dekudekuru is a reef close to Uepi Island Resort in the Solomon Islands. It is an ideal place for both over and under shots and images made from underwater shooting the nearby jungle canopy. This is due to the protected shallow waters of the reef inside a reef, and the

Photography

International Fleet Review in Sydney

This coming Friday, 4th October, marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival into Sydney of the first dedicated fleet for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) [1]. The RAN was actually the first of the former Colonial Dominion navies to become independent of the Royal Navy. To celebrate this milestone, the

Solomon Islands

Red On Blue

One of the beautiful flowers growing around the gardens of Uepi Island Resort, located in the remote and spectacular Marovo Lagoon in the Solomon Islands. I loved the colours of the flowering bushes, with the saturated reds and greens, and the blue sky really enhanced the overall scene. Just a

Photography

Calm Before the Party

This is the third of a set of images I made at Clovelly Beach in Sydney at Sunset on New Years Eve 2012. I love the beautiful light at sunset, and the HDR effect assists in brining out the colours. See this photo on * Des Paroz’ 500px Photo Gallery * BlueBeyond

HDR

Eve of Grey

Clovelly New Years Eve Sunset. This is a monochrome version of a HDR image created from three exposures on New Years Eve, at Sydney’s Clovelly Beach. I love the look that monochrome images can provide. I feel that in this case the extra tonal range provided by HDR adds

Japan

Shuri Castle

Shuri Castle is a reconstruction of the original castle of the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom – an independent country (that paid tribute to both China and Japan) until 1879. This image was made on our trip to Japan in 2005. Although I had lived in Japan for almost two years

HDR

New Years Eve at Clovelly

Its been way to long since I last published a Photo of the Day. I am going to try to get back on the wagon, and get some regular images up here. I made this image at Sunset on New Years Eve, capturing the beautiful sunset across Clovelly Bay, with

Adventures in Japan - 21 Years Ago Today

Yesterday marked the 21st anniversary of the day that I left Australia as a recent university graduate, and embarked on a 2 year adventure in Japan. Arriving late in the evening to the hustle and bustle of the metropolis that is Tokyo, I checked into the Sunshine City Prince Hotel