It has been a long time since I visited a landscape or seascape location with a camera. Since I became immersed in the world of street and urban photography my passion and focus has remained there, although there have been many times where I have admitted to myself that it would be a nice change to mix it up and go and shoot something a lot more relaxing.

Nestled in the lower Central Coast of New South Wales in Australia, and approximately two hours north of Sydney is the beautiful Bouddi National Park.

I have been to this place many times since moving to the region in 2017, however it was never with a camera.

A close friend of mine, and buddying photographer had already spent a couple of days shooting with me recently during his visit to our state, however they were both street shoots. Since we are both fond of landscape scenes at such locations we thought that we would head to the park to see what we could find from a photographic perspective.

We exited the carpark late afternoon and were immediately onto the main beach which makes its way around to the beginning of the rock formations.

From there you can stay on the lower level where many people like to fish, with plenty of interesting rock formations at the ocean’s edge to shoot, however if you choose to do so you must research tidal information, because the water there can often have a tendency to smash into the rocks and spill well beyond the edges.

Alternatively, you can climb the rock formations and steadily make your way to the top of the cliffs, or take the dedicated stairs… be warned, your calves and quads will get quite the workout!

From the cliff top you will be confronted with absolutely stunning views, and you will quickly realise just how wonderful the colour palette is. When you visit this location for the first time it can take your breath away, and it is very unique to have such a beautiful place right near populated urban environments.

I took along both my Fujifilm X-T5 and X100VI cameras. The X-T5 (with my 16-55 2.8 lens) was going to sit on my tripod, and the X100VI was there to take candid and documentary type pictures, some of which were for the purpose of my mate’s video that he will be creating where he will be showcasing his pictures.

Despite arriving late afternoon the sun was still way too high and was therefore quite harsh on the rocks and water’s edge, so we decided to head up to the cliff top to search for compositions which would work when the sun was much lower on the horizon.

Here is the view as you reach the top, as the cliffs look east.

Look at the patterns in those rock formations!

I know what you’re thinking, why did he mention the beautiful colour palette there, yet he took monochrome pictures?

Be patient, there are coloured pictures too.

The timber stairs which start at the eastern end of the main beach eventually take you onto a walkway which runs all the way along to the beach at the eastern end of the park. Approximately two thirds of the way to the second beach there is a walkway which heads up toward the north eastern lookout, from there you can take a hike along the cliff top on the opposite side to where we were… we chose not to check that out on this day.

My mate searching for compositions as the sun began to draw closer to the horizon.

We found a great spot which was providing golden light before sunset, and therefore we chose to take many pictures there, knowing that later the sun would not reach there.

Facing this direction away from the western sky we could see three young teenagers who were accompanied by the father of one of them swimming in the ocean below. Apparently they were there on an overnight camp.

I love the leading line of the water hitting the shore, leading the eye to the rock formation at the eastern point.

Look at the golden light hitting those magnificent rock formations!

I couldn’t resist taking this picture after seeing the spot of golden light hitting the whitest part of the cloud!

The sun was getting closer to the horizon and it was almost time to head to the western side to see what the light was doing there before it faded… time for a few last minute efforts here.

We made it over to the western side in time for the sun being closer to the horizon, however sadly by this time more cloud had moved in and blocked it.

Just as I decided to swing my camera around to face west again I placed my left foot on a large rock to begin moving to another spot, when the rock suddenly gave way beneath me.

My left leg crashed down hard onto another rock, leaving me with a gash on both my knee and shin.

After several minutes of hobbling around in pain I turned my camera around to see this beautiful and colourful rock formation.

It wasn’t my favourite composition from the day, however the colour really stood out for me and my leg was now telling me to quit the shoot, therefore I decided that this was to be my last picture… we were almost out of light anyway.

Well, we didn’t receive the lighting conditions that we hoped for from the lower west facing locations, however we did have beautiful golden light earlier from atop the cliffs which enabled both of us to create some nice pictures.

The winner for the day was the time spent with a close mate, talking crap and creating valuable life experiences… nice pictures are a bonus.

I hope that you enjoyed reading the blog and the pictures. I really appreciate you taking the time to check them out.

Roger Brooks.