Sometimes the things right in front of our nose are the ones that produces the goods, right? Certainly if it comes to photography. Sometimes you can drive all day long but it’s the final image taken on the own door step that awakes emotion.

Today I was heading out to explore sights and sounds along the Great Ocean Road here on the South-East coast of Australia where I arrived after a long day in the air and on the road yesterday where it all started in Sydney so early it was still dark and cold outside.

Good news this morning: no rain. Bad news: the sky’s as grey as it gets. Simply dull, without any texture, not letting any light through whatsoever. Sure, sometimes these conditions lend themselves to shoot atmospheric black and white – preferably long exposures with a bit of water in the scene.

That says I struggled to find any composition that exited me, that I felt passionate about. All looked dull & boring. An okay shot of the Cape Otway Lightstation was the best I could manage.

In the back of my mind I had it to be ‘home’ in Marengo/Apollo Bay for the potential sunset on the local beach, only 200 meters off my holiday home, which I neglected this morning.

The sun never really showed up, the grand show of a sunset certainly did not materialize. Nonetheless the beach of Marengo is interesting. Low tide was forming and set different rock formations free – some on land, some off the shore, as part of the Marengo Reefs Marine Sanctuary.

The night falling quickly, the light became ambient – that was the moment when it made “click” and I found numerous lovely compositions playing with slow shutter speeds.

In the end, the image above is my favourite. It was the final one I took before heading home, too. Funny how things work sometimes: 20mm, ISO 100, f/9, 10sec

The lights already went on in Apollo Bay, the night clouds pushing over the mountains bringing darkness, but a beautiful, subdued orange like back light still illuminates the rocks on front of me while the water is flowing in and out with the waves.