Sorrento Beach at Night

I was taking some photos on the beach at night for my upcoming book, but an unexpected opportunity and some cool ideas lead to some extra photos that I’m very happy with!

1sec f2.8 ISO10000

2sec f2.8 ISO8000

While we were shooting on the beach, a wedding party was going on up at All Smiles Sorrento Ocean Beach. Late in the night a large group came down to the beach and launched a series of paper lanterns out into the ocean.

The scene was just perfect and I quickly grabbed my camera and tripod, guessed the settings and started taking pics. It was so dark there in person that I’m not even sure they saw me take the pics! After I’d spent about 10 minutes getting photos, as they were finishing up, I took my camera over and asked the guests who I could speak to about the photos.

Soon I was surrounded by excited and slightly tipsy people who all loved seeing the shots on the back of the camera. The bride even gave me a hug and kiss! I left my business card with the best man and told them to get in touch with me for copies.

The lesson of this story is always be ready to quickly change gears to take advantage of great photo opportunities that appear when you least expect them! That, and always keep some business cards on hand :)

20sec f2.8 ISO3200

I love my fisheye lens! I was assisted on the shoot by Miller, while his mum Kerry and Naomi looked on. Naomi reminded me of a photo I took many years ago and suggested it would work for a photo of Miller. I was only too happy to oblige!

More experience, a better camera and darker skies made for a much better photo this time around in my opinion!

20sec f2.8 ISO10000

Naomi also wanted a photo of herself and Kerry enjoying the stars where they were sitting on the beach. They had such a great time that night – as did we all – listening to the music from the wedding, admiring the stars from the dark Sorrento sky and getting creative with the camera. I hope we can do it again soon!