News & Adventures
Runner Up at the Gold Coast Photography Awards, With The Upside Down
A couple of weeks ago I found myself standing at Balter Brewery, waiting to hear the results of the Gold Coast Photography Awards. I walked away runner up, for The Upside Down, one of the shots from my Life's a Beach series. It was also picked out separately as one of the major sponsor's favourite images of the night, which honestly caught me off guard more than the placing did. The story behind The Upside Down I'm not sure why but I couldn't help but laugh watching this unfold. I heard some yelling, turned around, and there's a guy sprinting after his umbrella as the wind rips it away from him down the sand at Kirra. No posing, no direction, just a completely unplanned moment that happened to land in the frame. That's the whole appeal of the Life's a Beach series for me, it's not about the perfect postcard shot, it's about the real, slightly chaotic, very Australian moments that actually happen on our beaches. It's a strange feeling having a judging panel and a major sponsor single out a photo I almost didn't keep. It's a reminder that the shots worth taking aren't always the ones you plan for. A night for the local creative community What stuck with me more than the result was the room itself. Balter Brewery opened its doors for the night, and it was genuinely great seeing so much of the Gold Coast's creative community in one place, photographers, sponsors, judges, everyone who puts real time into this industry showing up to back each other. Events like this don't happen without a lot of people caring enough to organise them, and it says a lot about the Gold Coast that a night like this exists at all. Photography can be a pretty solitary pursuit most of the time, you're usually on your own at 5am waiting for the light. So it means something to stand in a room full of people who get exactly what that's like, and to see a local brewery back the creative industry the way Balter did for this event. Thank you to the organisers, judges and sponsors of the Gold Coast Photography Awards, and to everyone who came down to Balter to make the night what it was. If you want to see the shot that started all this, The Upside Down is here, or browse the rest of the Life's A Beach collection.
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My Artwork Is Now Hanging in Robina Hospital, and It Feels Like Full Circle
Two of my framed prints and a wall mural now hang in Robina Hospital, in the same kind of wards where a surfing accident once put me in hospital myself.
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Top 5 Gold Coast Prints
My pick of the 5 Gold Coast prints I'd hang in my own home, from Kirra to Snapper Rocks, all shot and printed by me.
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Top 5 Black and White Sydney Prints
My pick of the 5 best black and white Sydney prints, from the Harbour Bridge to Bondi, all shot and printed by me here in Australia.
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Ocean Wave Photography Wall Art: A Buying Guide
Most of what's written about buying ocean wave art online is written by people who've never stood in the water with a camera waiting for a set. I have, for years, off the Gold Coast, and the thing people get wrong when they're buying wave art online is thinking the wave's shape is what matters most. It isn't, not on its own. There are actually a few genuinely different ways I shoot a wave, and knowing which one you're looking at changes what you should expect from it and where it belongs in your home. The different ways I shoot a wave Ocean wave photography isn't one thing. A long exposure shot and a shorebreak shot are almost different disciplines, different risk, different gear, different moment. Here's how I actually break it down. Long exposure and slow shutter Time Warp is the clearest example of this one. I shot it with a slow shutter speed as the sun was setting, so the water softens into brushed, dreamlike motion and the wave itself glows warm gold. The technique trades a sharp, frozen moment for something calmer and more painterly, which is why it tends to suit a room you want to feel relaxed rather than energised. Barrel and tube shots Completely different discipline again. Eye Of Poseidon was shot in the barrel on the Gold Coast, looking through the wave's eye as it curls, light and water forming the shape that earned it the name. You're inside or right alongside the wave for this one, not standing back from it, and the reward is seeing something most people never get close enough to see, the wave from its own point of view. Shorebreak This is the one people underestimate. A shorebreak wave folds and closes out on sand, not along a point or a reef, so you're shooting right in the impact zone, close enough to get hit if you time it wrong. It's a completely different physical discipline to a barrel shot from open water or a lined-up wave from the air, there's no safe distance to retreat to, you're committed the moment you're in position. Kingscliff shorey is one of mine from just south of the Gold Coast, the wave folding gold and green over the sand, close enough to feel the spray. I'll be honest, this is a newer part of my catalogue and I've only got the one piece properly shot for it right now, more shorebreak work is coming. Abstract and macro water texture Not every wave photograph is trying to show you a recognisable wave. Detonate came from an early morning swim, before sunrise, shadows still lurking in the water, then the sun finally breaking through a wave about to explode just metres in front of me. Shots like this are less about the wave's shape and more about light, energy and texture, closer to abstract art than a seascape, and they suit a room where you want a bold, graphic statement rather than a literal ocean scene. Colour or black and white, the same wave two ways Whichever type above you're drawn to, you'll still have to decide on colour. The clearest way to see what colour actually changes is Wish Wash Colour next to Wish Wash B&W, the same wave, colliding with another off the rocks at Snapper Rocks, same crop, same moment. In colour it's vibrant blue and white, energetic, suits a bright coastal room. Strip the colour out and it goes graphic and moody, more contrast, more shadow, suits a modern, monochrome space. Neither is the right version, it depends entirely on the room. Which way it's breaking, and how the room reads Something people don't think about: which direction the wave is breaking, left to right or right to left, and how that sits with the room. I think about which way you naturally look when you walk into a space, or which side the room opens up toward, and try to hang the wave breaking into that open space rather than off toward a wall or a doorway. It's the same logic as hanging a portrait so the subject faces into the room instead of out of it. Offshore Blue, with its soft pastel water, is a good one to think about this with, it's a calmer piece, so getting the direction right matters even more since there's nothing dramatic to distract from it if it feels off. Sizing and orientation Most wave shots read best horizontal, since the motion runs left to right rather than up and down. For above a sofa or bed, the usual two thirds of the furniture width rule applies. For a dramatic storm wave like Chaotic Allure, going larger actually helps, scale adds to the sense of power rather than overwhelming the room. Framed, canvas or acrylic Same logic I use everywhere else: acrylic gives the most depth and detail but is reflective, so it needs a wall without direct glare. Canvas suits brighter rooms since it absorbs more light. Framed is the traditional pick, and pairs with non-reflective glass if glare's a concern. I've gone through this in more detail in my Framed, Canvas or Acrylic guide if you want the full breakdown. Where to start The full range is in my Waves collection, everything from clean peeling walls to heavy barrels to the quiet moment before a set.
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Aerial Photography Wall Art: A Buying Guide
I've spent the better part of a decade shooting doors-off from helicopters and light aircraft up and down the Gold Coast, across Brisbane and out over the Whitsundays. It's a different way of seeing a place you think you already know, and it photographs differently to anything shot from the ground, which is why I get asked more questions about buying aerial prints than almost any other style in the shop. Here's what I'd tell you if you asked in person.Why aerial works so well as wall artFrom directly above, familiar places turn into pattern and colour. A wave becomes a line. A stretch of sand becomes texture. A city becomes geometry. Skyline Panorama, one of my recent Surfers Paradise shots, is a good example, the same coastline everyone's seen from the beach, but shot straight down it reads as an abstract composition first and a place second. That's the appeal: aerial prints tend to work as a genuine piece of art in a room, not just a photo of a nice view.Choosing a subjectCoastline shots, Burleigh Heads, Snapper Rocks, Currumbin Alley, read as recognisable, grounded pieces, good if you want the location itself to mean something. City shots, the Story Bridge, the Brisbane river bends, lean architectural and suit a study or office. Then there's the genuinely abstract end of the range, patterns in the sand at Whitehaven Beach like Shark Impression and Snake Skin, along with the Western Australia salt lake and shark bay series, which read as pure shape and colour and suit a space where you want art first, location second.Orientation and sizeAerial shots are often shot square or in a wide panorama rather than the usual landscape crop, which changes where they work in a room. A panorama like Skyline Panorama wants a long, uninterrupted run of wall, above a sofa or a dining table. Square crops sit well in tighter spaces or as part of a pair. As a general rule, aim for artwork to fill 60-75% of the available wall space, and if it's going above furniture, two-thirds the width of the piece below it.Framed, canvas or acrylicThis one comes down to the room more than the image. Acrylic gives you the most detail and a real depth to the colour, but it's reflective, so it wants a wall that isn't fighting glare from a window or a light directly opposite it. Canvas absorbs more of the light hitting it, which makes it the better pick for a bright room or a wall that catches direct sun. Framed is the traditional, timeless option, and if you're worried about reflection but still want a frame, pairing it with our non-reflective glass cuts the glare right down. Have a look at the room itself before the image, that's what decides which one's right.Where to startThe full range is in the aerial photography collection, the more graphic, pattern-led work is in Abstract Aerial Art, and the Gold Coast and Brisbane sets are broken out separately if you know the area you want on your wall.
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Gold Coast Art, New Aerial Prints from Surfers Paradise
The last version of this page was from 2012, a diary entry about a pelican I spotted fishing near Surfers Paradise. That old gallery in Broadbeach closed years ago, the original site is long gone, and most of what was written back then hasn't aged well. Surfers Paradise itself hasn't lost anything for me though, so it felt like the right time to start this page over. Back Up in the Drone I got the drone up over the beach on a clear morning in the middle of July this year, one of those mornings where the light, the water and the timing all line up at once. The swimmers were out early, Q1 was catching the first sun, and the shallows had that turquoise glow that only shows up a handful of times a year. Worth the early start, and worth flying the drone back and forth over the same stretch of sand about a dozen more times than was strictly necessary. Four New Prints From the Flight A few of the shots from that morning, now available as prints. Skyline Panorama, a wide sweep of the Surfers Paradise skyline meeting the Pacific. A statement piece for a living room or an office wall. Summer Shoreline, sunbathers and swimmers scattered along the sand, shot straight down from above. Turquoise Shallows, a bird's eye view of the shallows fading from pale turquoise to white water. Calm enough for a bedroom or bathroom. Coastal Heights, Q1 rising above the high rise line, sand and water stretching out below it. How They're Printed All four are printed here in Australia on the same premium materials as the rest of the range, framed and ready to hang, canvas, acrylic face mount, or print only. You can see the full set alongside the rest of my aerial work in the aerial photography collection.
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Surf Photography Wall Art: A Gold Coast Photographer's Buying Guide
Most of what's written about buying surf photography online comes from print sellers who've never actually been in the water with a camera. I have, for years, swimming out at Duranbah, Snapper Rocks, Kirra and Burleigh Heads with a housing over my camera, timing sets and waiting for the right wave the same way the surfers around me were. One of those shots, Exit Wave, won overall winner at the 2010 Digital Camera World Photographer of the Year awards, plus first in the Adrenalin category, and later made the cover of Capture magazine's Australia's Top Emerging Photographers issue. That's the difference buying from someone who shoots the sport rather than just prints it: you're getting a genuine moment, not a stock composition.What makes a surf photograph work as artA good surf shot isn't just a wave, it's timing. Sometimes that's a surfer, the barrel closing in behind them, the split second of a duck dive. The Duck Dive is one of mine that still gets requested most, super clear water letting you see straight through the wave as the surfer rises. But surf art doesn't need a surfer in it at all, an empty wave at the exact moment it explodes, the spray peeling off the lip, is its own kind of timing and its own kind of art. Southern Gold, a top 10 finish in the Australian Surf Photographer of the Year awards, is a wave with nobody on it, just the water rearing and about to break. Webbed Hands is the same idea taken further, backwash off a rock wall caught at the instant it forms shapes like fingers. Neither needed a surfer to be a genuine surf photograph.The Gold Coast breaks, and what each one gives youEvery break has its own character and its own kind of shot. Kirra and Duranbah are where the barrels happen, tight, powerful, and where a lot of my water shots come from, Inside Out at Kirra is a good example. Snapper Rocks is where the line-ups and the aerial perspective come into their own, Birds Eye Line Up shows the crowd and the wave from directly above. Burleigh Heads sits in between, both the barrel and the wider landscape, Burleigh Birds Eye captures that scale.Choosing a pieceDecide first what you're after: the water level intensity of being in the wave with a surfer, like The Duck Dive or Inside Out at Kirra, an empty wave caught at its most dramatic moment, like Southern Gold or Webbed Hands, or the wider, calmer perspective of an aerial line-up shot. All three read very differently in a room, one is energy and motion, one is texture and timing, the other is pattern and scale. A number of these are also available in black and white if you want the same shot with less colour competing with the rest of your room.Sizing and orientationMost surf shots suit a landscape crop, above a sofa or along a hallway, aim for 60-75% of the available wall space, and two-thirds the width of any furniture it's hanging above. The aerial line-up shots often work as a panorama or square crop instead, similar to the aerial collection.Framed, canvas or acrylicSame rule as everywhere else in the shop: it depends on the room's light, not the image. Acrylic gives the most detail and depth but is reflective, so it wants a wall without direct glare. Canvas absorbs more light and suits a bright room. Framed is the traditional option, and pairing it with our non-reflective glass cuts down glare if that's a concern.Where to startThe full range is in the Surf Art collection, 86 pieces spanning Snapper Rocks, Currumbin, Kirra, Burleigh Heads and Bondi Beach, in colour and black and white.
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Styling Ocean Photography for a Coastal Home, Frame, Canvas or Acrylic by Room
A companion piece to the Framed, Canvas or Acrylic guide, this one's about the room. Four real coastal rooms, four real prints, and how colour palette and light should drive your finish choice.
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