2020 Calendar

Everyone can relate to the range of emotions that you feel with photography. Recently I had a small taste of what professional photographers on assignment must feel - I can assure you it is not the usual relaxed state of mind that we as amateurs are used to.

As some of you might know I published my second calendar recently - the 2020 seascape theme. I am fairly new to landscape photography so making the decision to sell calendars to the public was a huge step for me and with that came pressure to capture calendar worthy images.

The main reason I started photography was to “escape” the pressures of everyday work and all of a sudden I found myself having to set deadlines to capture images.

By end September I had managed to capture the 12 images which meant I had ample time for marketing and printing - relieved I sat back and took a deep breath.

A few weeks later I started designing my calendar layout and that is when it hit me - I did not have a cover image!

The cover image

My landscape photos are generally captured with a wide angle lens in landscape orientation, however this was not going to work for the cover image as it needed to be in portrait/vertical orientation.

I knew the exact spot (+- 3 hours from home) that would be perfect BUT this location is a sunrise only location with very unpredictable weather. It has a habit of being totally smothered in heavy mist or far too bright on cloudless mornings.

I work full time so I was limited to weekend getaways and thankfully my wife shares my passion for adventure and nature so convincing her to pack a bag for these trips was easy. The first few outings were fruitless despite the weather forecasts stating high level clouds - my anxiety levels were rising.

It was now 2nd week in November and rain was forecast for the weekend - we decided to take a chance and booked a 2 night stay. The drive would be around 1.5 hours each way which meant an early wake up call. I woke at around 3:20am to the sound of rain but decided to head out to Arniston hopeful that the weather would clear. Unfortunately the weather deteriorated along the way and when I pulled up at the beach the wind was driving the rain sideways - this was not going to work.

I had not even taken my camera out the bag when I decided to head back to our accommodation - about 15 km’s out of town I came across a Spotted-eagle Owl sitting in the rain - don’t think he was too impressed with the rain.

FINALLY!

The next morning was yet another early start and when the alarm sounded at 3:20am I had to remind myself that I had to “be in it to win it” else there was little chance of me climbing out of a warm bed.

I arrived 1.5 hours later and parked my car whilst anxiously trying to determine the weather conditions in the pitch dark. I slung my camera bag and tripod over my shoulder and started the 20 minute trek along the beach/rocks to my spot.

At least the rain had stopped so I setup my camera gear and filters and started composing my image - the tide was perfect (just about high tide) causing the waves to crash over the shelf that protrudes out to sea.

About 25 minutes later the yellow glow started to appear on the horizon and I could finally see that there were some high level clouds and equally importantly no low lying mist or cloud to block the rising sun!

I dialed in my settings to get the 0.6s exposure that I was looking for thereby ensuring texture/detail in the water - now just to time the wave perfectly.

I am pleased to present the cover image of my 2020 calendar!

If you would like to see the 12 qualifying images or maybe place an order please click here

Till next time…