Port Douglas (Patreon)

The lead image was captured at the back of the beach by the old Sugar Wharf (now used for wedding receptions) at low tide just as the Shaolin (the Junk) was heading out into open waters. When I post I often get asked if I am using a tripod or if the camera is hand-held.

If the waters are not smooth the answer is always hand-held. I can hand-hold the camera without a tripod at f11, even if the sun is not yet risen.

When I do use a tripod it is usually a table-top tripod or my my Leofoto LS-223C (as seen in my Pilot 7L messenger bag review).

Image 2 and 3 show the low vantage point that I prefer if I was using a tripod - drawing the foreground into the frame and using the reflections in the still waters.

Over the years of being both a photographer and an educator I have noticed how a tripod for some (but not all) photographers becomes an anchor, i.e., they put down the tripod and then don’t move from that spot.

Without dropping my anchor I am free to explore many different vantage points at the same location in a short space of time (the subsequent images are all captured in the same location).

I suppose I treat landscape photography the same as I approach event photography. The photographic dance of composing the foreground, middle distance and distance and their never-ending permutations.

The images were captured with my A7C and FE 20mm F1.8 G and FE 35mm F1.4 GM - I prefer to work with two primes rather than one zoom (a subject I will be covering in the August seminar).

Link to Raw (DNG) image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qeb599b7algih47/20210727-_DSC7274.dng?dl=0