Hello Steemit Followers!

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I Got Out Of Bed at 4.30am :(

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For those of you how may know me, I thinking that's not many of your since I have only been on @steemit for just over two weeks - you probably know that I hate getting up early for sunrise photos. You can clearly see the amount of excitement on my face! I got a call from a friend yesterday asking if I wanted to join a few photographers for a sunrise shoot at North Curl Curl in Sydney's Northern Beaches.

I said I would be happy to go as there was someone from a imaging company who wanted to meet me (strange time for a business meeting). So I crawled out of bed at 4.30am after setting three alarms and managed to drive myself into Sydney's CBD to pick up two friends before arriving at the North Curl Curl's carpark at 6.30am. The sun was set to rise at 7am.

You can clearly see my early morning enthusiasm

It was still dark by the time we finished our walk along the coastal track from the carpark to the ocean pool. Not really being in the zone, I decided to mount my XF56mm f1.2 lens on the X-T2 and take some more abstract images after noticing the rest of the group congregating around one corner of the ocean pool. It appeared each photographer was after the same shot... must have been a local thing, because I was more interested in taking photos that looked different from everyone else.

I decided to wander around and take a few shots to help tell the story of what the location was like.

The Fujifilm GFX 50S

Runoff water from the ocean pool

Interesting rock formations

The view from the rocks

Photographing the surface of the ocean pool

Trying a different orientation of the ocean pool

The waterfall being expelled from the ocean pool

The swell building

The group of photographers all after the same shot

Moving on to some of the higher rocks I was able to change my lens to the XF16mm and focus on the pounding sets of waves hitting the coastline. I tried to frame one of the lone photographers on the edge of the ocean pool to show the scale of the huge wave as it it the edge of the wall.

The sound of the wave hitting the wall was like a loud thunder clap

Seeing the intensity of the wave I decided to venture to the edge of the ocean pool myself to try and capture the wave at full height. By now the sun had risen and provided beautiful lighting on each water droplet as they rose into the air.

The sunlight glistening through the ocean spray

I think the photo above was certainly the best from the morning, however it did come at a cost. While I was waiting for the big splash there were a few big waves that swamped me as they rushed over the rocks. The swell ended up at my knee height and nearly knocked me over. For the rest of the morning I had to endure wet jeans and socks in the cold 5 degree winds. My shoes were fine, if I had waterproof pants then the freezing water wouldn't have ended up in my shoes! Man it was cold!

The result of getting the shot - saturated jeans and socks!

By now my feet were freezing and the wind was getting to intense for me to feel comfortable, so I decided to join the other photographers. I moved into position to see what the others were photographing with their cameras mounted on tripods.

Seeing what angle the other photographers were capturing

I didn't really like the angle the other photographers were capturing so I moved myself to the right hand side of the ocean pool and waited for a wave to flow over the edge. By now the sun was well into the sky and provided excellent light to make this shot glow. I couldn't have been happier with the way it turned out!

Now that I'm back sitting in the warmth of the lounge after thawing out my feet thanks to a welcome hot shower I feel that I'll leave the sunrise shots to the real enthusiasts of the photography world. I'm more than happy lying in my warm bed fast asleep!

All photographs were photographed using the Fujifilm X-T2

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Are you a photographer or a traveller like me?
Use #myday to share your posts and let's see where this goes!

I'm Leigh, from Sydney Australia and through @steemit I'm seeing what its like to explore @myday. Not in any particular order, or particular time frame but just parts of @myday through my eyes and sometimes the cameras lens.

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