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South coast of Western Australia near the city of Albany. The title 'Gouryella' comes from an aboriginal language and means heaven, which is pretty much what I felt like when looking the scene before me when I was taking this photo. Rugged cost, dramatic clouds, bit of light and colour over the horizon, they all meant heaven for a photographer.
It was quite cold and windy. I think it is always windy on this stretch of the coast. The clouds kept moving at fast pace and not longer afterwards they all moved away but they lingered just long enough for me to take a number of photos. The glow of the setting sun over the horizon and warm light emanating from under the clouds highlighted the corresponding patches of copper hued rocks in the foreground. I also liked the rich detailed texture of the granite shore spreading in front of the camera.
I tried a few different angles and compositions before settling on this one as my main concept. Grand scenic images are not as easy to photograph as they would seem. There are just so many elements to consider when looking at the scene. Foreground is probably the most important part of wide landscapes and I hope I managed to find an interesting foreground for this image. The coloured parts of the rocks attracted my attention fist up before I noticed the rough lines of the cracks leading up towards the water. I think that one needs to study the foreground carefully to find these semi existent lines before one is able to follow their path and I liked that aspect of the scene that worked my imagination. The headland stretching over the horizon tied the composition up nicely for me by taking the eyes towards the burst of light and the solitary island on the other side of the bay.
It really is the photo that I have envisioned for such a long time and I really wished we had returned to this spot earlier. This bit of coastline fascinated me ever since my first visit in the early 1990s and then again in 2008. This kind of wide scenic image was on my mind forever since then and I was very happy that we made the trek again and I was able to make it a reality.
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