Rodney Campbell's Blog

I’d been wanting to shoot the lanes at Bronte ocean pool for some years. Somehow I’d never gotten around to shooting here.

Bronte Lanes

DJI Phantom 4 - FC330 + 3.6 mm @ 3.61 mm, 1/30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 149

As it happens this wasn’t exactly what I was thinking of either. I’d imagined shooting here one very early morning before sunset. Alas I don’t always get the luxury of choosing. Today my two eldest daughters wanted to go for a drive to a beachside location for sunset. Bronte it was…

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Bronte

DJI Phantom 4 - FC330 + 3.6 mm @ 3.61 mm, 1/30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 134

A look south down the coast with sun dipping to the horizon to the right. The pool is straight ahead at the base of the cliff directly across the beach.

Boom Crash

DJI Phantom 4 - FC330 + 3.6 mm @ 3.61 mm, 1/30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 180

The pool has these fabulous lines which mark the lanes of the pool which are quite striking. Many a seascape photographer has used them to good effect. I had my drone so figured I’d give it a shot from above. Too cold here in mid winter for anyone to be swimming as the sun dips below the horizon.

DJI Phantom 4 - FC330 + 3.6 mm @ 3.61 mm, 1/30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 181

We’d just spent the afternoon shooting amongst the Palaeolithic Basalt spires at Bombo Quarry. To satiate our hunger we had this excellent dinner at this fantastic little restaurant in Kiama (yum!). It was an unexpected find and with our stomachs now well and truly full we were just about to head out on the long drive back to Sydney. I looked up into the sky and saw relatively clear skies and stars.

Palaeolithic

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 4000 x 5 Frames

Somehow I managed to convince the others to stop back at Bombo once more to check them out under starry skies. Only Ron was willing to stumble around in the pitch black right next to the raging ocean with me :). The others remained in the comfort of the car whilst Ron and I looked for some compositions in this crazy rocky wonderland.

The image above is a vertical stitched panormama (vertorama) composed of five (5) horizontal frames with the ultra wide Samyang 14mm. I composed it to contain the milky way streaking diagonally through the frame overhead. With a little light painting of the foreground during the forwards and downwards frames to bring it out of the absolute darkness.

Below we have a single frame capture with the waves crashing against the other side of these rock columns and spilling up over the top and down the sides. Another reason not to get too close, lest we be washed out over the cliff edge and out to sea…

Star Fall

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/3.2, ISO 4000

Located between Kiama Downs and Kiama, the Bombo Quarry site is an impressive and fascinating place. The Bombo Headland is home to clusters of hexagonal basalt columns which make for wonderful photographic opportunities.

Splashes

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 1/6 sec at f/11, ISO 100

The basalt walls and columns are a legacy of blue metal quarrying in the 1880s and 1900s. The quarry has since closed, leaving behind a prehistoric land that time forgot.

Thrust

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 1/8 sec at f/14, ISO 100

Ron, Jess, Deb and I made a Saturday trip down to Kiama to photograph the area at sunset. This is typically a sunrise location but I figured shooting the columns from the landward side would also work up to sunset.

The main attraction for photographers are these large black hexagonal basalt columns that were left standing to prevent the ocean from entering the quarry.

Waiting to Get Wet

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 1.30 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Of course the water does now get into the quarry… When particularly large waves roll in and crash against the walls the water tends to spew up and over the top. Great for getting nice reflective pools of water and water cascading down the inside faces of the rock walls. Also great for an impromptu showed if one is not careful :).

Basalt Column

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 103 sec at f/16, ISO 100

The rapid ebb and flow of the water here in this channel was tantalising. I figured I could push the exposure time a little with the Lee LittleStopper. The slick black wet rocks were just perfect for the sort of shot I was looking for at the time.

Crucible of Life

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 35 mm, 26 sec at f/11, ISO 100

What I find interesting about this image is that whilst the sky definitely had the look of a not too long exposure; the water looks like it’s got many minutes under it’s belt. Just goes to show how much the water was moving and churning here to turn to mist so “rapidly”.

A tweak to monochrome and it’s just how I envisaged…

Almost a year ago I was at Bombo Headland for a sunset shoot with friends. I’d never shot the headland at sunset (having only been here at sunrise before). Whilst the others were looking for shots in the fading light before the hope of some sunset colour I took off to the skies above.

Transitions

DJI Phantom 4 - FC330 + 3.6 mm @ 3.61 mm, 1/120 sec at f/2.8, ISO 155

Well at least virtually I was :).

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Forked

DJI Phantom 4 - FC330 + 3.6 mm @ 3.61 mm, 1/60 sec at f/2.8, ISO 110

This place is a bit of a photographers paradise. As with most east coast locations it’s probably more suited to sunrise. It does however offer some opportunities at sunset which I was about to find out for myself.