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Today we are back on Australian shores. This is a photo that I took back in 2018 during our trip to the Great Ocean Road and the southern coast of Victoria. I have been patiently waiting to finish the China series so that I could go back and work on this image.

I spent three mornings out near the sea stacks called Twelve Apostles, chasing the illusive beautiful morning light and colours. Last morning before we moved on, I got lucky with a fantastic sunrise. This is the view of Gibson Steps right opposite the Apostles and the two sea stacks are named Gog and Magog. The name Gibson Steps refers to the staircase leading down to the stretch of beach. It is one of the classic compositions from this location and in reality the compositional opportunities are limited unless one is willing to climb over the fence and head further out from the paths provided to visitors. Even then, I do not believe that the change in angle would justify such a risky excursion.

The sun was rising right over the mainland and I was hoping that the early morning sun would illuminate the clouds hanging over into the sea. It did just enough of that, as well as casting a lovely glow on the grasses in the foreground. The shutter speed was determined by a combination of available light and wanting to get the right amount of water motion and cloud texture into the photo. I wanted to smooth out the water a touch while retaining some structure in the clouds without washing them out completely. That balance was hard to achieve because the sea was very rough due to storms passing by over the area over the last few day. The dark clouds to the right of the stacks are the remains of these storms.

We visited this region back in 2011, when I was very early into my photography adventure, and therefore it was great to have been able to visit again with a bit more experience under my belt. Re-visiting old locations gives me a great perspective in terms of where I was with my photography before and where I am now and also what I still have to learn. When I look at some of my old photos, there is so many things that I would have done differently and it is great to be able to put that perspective into good use when returning to some of my favourite places. This in turn helps me to be more prepared for new locations and places that we are yet to visit.