Exploring Sydney East Coast

Sydney is a magnificent city with numerous beaches and long stretching coastlines. Having been living in Sydney for 20 years, I have visited most beach areas of this city. However, I haven’t started to explore Sydney’s eastern coast areas from a photographic perspective until recently.

La Perouse

La Perouse is in south east of Sydney. It was named by French sailor Jean-Francois de Galaupde La Perouse who landed Sydney at this location in 1788. He was also the first French to land Australia soil.

La Perouse Coastline

Unlike other coast areas of Sydney, La Perouse stands out with its unique features of rocks, beaches, bay and bushland. With its east facing, it is an ideal location for taking morning shots.

La Perouse

La Perouse Rock Formation

Coggee

Coggee is another famous east coast suburb of Sydney. Coggee was from Australian Aboriginal language meaning “sticking seaweed”. Different from La Perouse, Coggee does not have large area of bushland and tremendous cliff formations. Instead, it is occupied by dense residential buildings. As it is very close to University of New South Wales (UNSW), many university staff and students live in Coggee area.

Moonbow at Coggee Beach

The above photo was taken in an early morning, while a “rainbow” appeared across the dark sky. With a 8 minutes long exposure, this amazing full rainbow was captured. Afterward, I was told this was not a rainbow, it was actually a moonbow instead.

Algae Invasion

The photo on the right was taken during a low tide period at Coggee, while algae aggressively invaded on to the rock under the shallow water. The dramatic cloud above the sky was formed after a light storm just before this shot was taken.

Fisherman

Storm Coming

Photo “The First Light” was taken from an ocean pool called Ivo Rowe Pool, which is one of my favorite photography locations in Coggee. The photo captured the changing light of the rising sun while a star trail was also presented on the left side of the sky.

The First Light

 

Returning to the Entrance

The Entrance is on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia, about 90 km north of Sydney. It is a popular place for vacation. I first visited the Entrance in 1991. At that time, the Entrance was just a small town along the coast, quiet and peaceful. Now nearly twenty years passed, the Entrance has grown into a major tourist attraction town. However it still remains quiet and peaceful most of the time during the year except Christmas and school vacation periods.

The Entrance Coast

With the pacific ocean on the east and the Tuggerah lake at its west side, the Entrance is one of my favorite photography locations. The Norah Head Light House, another ideal location for photography, is only 15 minutes drive from the town center.

I have visited the Entrance many times. Each visit gives me different, fresh impressions. Recently, I picked up a low tide period over a weekend and revisited the Entrance again. In the late afternoon, when the sun was about to set, the warm light shed on the foreground reeds and presented a pleasant color.

Tuggerah Lake

The following photo was taken after the sunset. The soft light presented a calmness mood over Tuggerah Lake.

Tuggerah Lake

I planned to take sunrise shot on the beach the next morning. Waked up early at 4.00am, I thought I had enough time to go back to the Tuggerah Lake to take a night shot first before returning to the beach.

Stars over Tuggerah Lake

Around 5.15am, I headed to the beach. Since the tide was low, the rocks normally immersed under the water had been revealed along the beach, which provided an opportunity to get some interesting foregrounds. I stood in the shallow water and waited for the morning light. The following two shots captured the moment when the sun broke through the cloud.

The Entrance Coast Sunrise (I)

The Entrance Coast Sunrise (II)

I didn’t get much time to explore other parts of the Entrance, especially the area around the Norah Head Light House. This definitely will be left to my next visit.

 

Yangshuo – A Wonderland of China

This is a long-delayed travel note that I should have finished much earlier. I thought I had a chance to visit Yangshuo recently, and I was hoping to come up with more information and photos to put in this note, but unfortunately that plan has been changed.

Yangshou (阳朔）is a small county near Guilin (桂林) along Li River (漓江). I first heard about Yangshuo in 1996 from a friend who sent me a self-made photograph postcard from Hong Kong. I was surprised with the stunning scene of the postcard and asked where the place was. I was told “this is Yangshuo”. Since then, I remembered a place called Yangshuo.

Yulong River

Many years have passed. Now Yangshuo has become a hot-spot for tourists from all over the world. When you are in those busy streets of Yangshuo, you would not feel that this is a place people would call “Wonderland”.  But once you get out of Yangshuo’s downtown, you will no longer doubt Yangshuo’s reputation.

I first visited Yangshuo in 2006 when attending a conference in Guilin. The most recent visit was in 2008 with my family. We stayed there for three days. It was a very short visit, especially from a photographer’s point of view, but that visit definitely convinced me to come back again someday.

West Street (西街)

West Street is the busiest street in Yangshuo. It is only 1 km long, but full of shops, restaurants and hotels. If you are not keen on taking landscape photos, staying in West Street is the best option for your visit.  Some motels provide very cheap accommodations. For instance, one room suitable for a couple or a single person, may cost around 60 RMB per night, which is less than US$10.

Moon Rise over West Street

There is a creek on the other side of West Street. On one early morning, I went there and experienced a wonderful pre-dawn and sunrise scene.

Near West Street

Yulong River (遇龙河)

Yulong River is a tributary of Li River, about 40 km from Yangshuo. This is a popular spot for photography. During our stay in Yangshuo, I only went there once to take couple of shots. The hotel owner told me that he once sent an American photographer to Yulong River almost every morning during his one month stay in West Street.

Yulong River

Around Yangshuo

Yangshuo is a wonderland of China. Its unique landscape provides infinite photography opportunities as long as you stay in Yangshuo long enough and get to know the place well.