Summer of 2020 - Great Ocean Road

As someone who loves fishing, there is not much I enjoy more than being seaside before dawn in summer to embrace sunrise and the treasures it brings. The smell of the fresh morning sea air is wonderful, however it does present challenges for photography. The constant salty mist plays havoc with whatever your front element is; lens or filter. Keeping it clean and not scratching anything with the salty water can be tricky. Sand and waves present different and harder challenges, however on this occasion I was at a cosy lookout so besides the mist it was fairly simple and comfortable.

Pre dawn sky at Split Point

Split Point Lighthouse

This was my first attempt at an image in this location. I had an idea of what to expect, but no idea where to start. I didn’t have time to scout a composition so I fired up my apps and google. I looked for whatever appeared easy to find and was within a thirty minute drive of where I was staying.

The Split Point lighthouse and Eagle Rock sea stack looked interesting; over a beer I now had the start of a plan and could focus on enjoying the roast lamb and vegetables and an early night.

Finding a composition

I rose early and headed to my destination allowing extra time to find parking and scout for compositions in the dark. Arriving at the carpark with plenty of time, I left the gear in the 4WD, grabbed a head lamp and a torch and found a couple of simple options. There were a couple of tracks that looked like they would get me down to the beach, but being still dark I decided that I’d scout that after sunrise and stick to the lookouts. The lighthouse didn’t excite me but I liked the Eagle Rock sea stack, and pre-dawn colour was starting to appear in the sky.

Eagle Rock long exposure

Sunrise at Eagle Rock

Eagle Rock at dawn

I rushed back to the 4WD grabbed my gear and got to it. When I visit a location for the first time I like to shoot as many compositions as possible; more as a location scouting exercise for a return trip. If I get an image I like that’s a bonus. I bagged these images and was happy with my morning scouting and knew that being Victoria, there had to be good coffee nearby. Happy days….