Its been WAAAAY too long since i got in the water with my camera and way too long since a #shorebreaksessions fix! On Sunday me and the hombres decided to go camping down at Conto's beach (campground) and i took the camera down just incase. Its a sick spot and the beach there is beautiful. Beforehand i had to work most of the day, but as 5pm rolled around i was in the car and driving down there faster than grease lightning itself.
Sunday was also the day a new swell would arrive late on so i was super keen to get in the water:
*note the 2.5ft @ 20seconds and 3ft.5 @ 19seconds. This was the beginning of the new swell and by monday morning it was 8ft @ 16seconds.
Generally a bigger swell period means heavier waves and thicker lips - and at contos it means more barrels! The beach can handle a bit of south wind and there was 'rumours about town of a bank' there (Dano knows).
When you pull up in the car park its a 30 second run through the bush to check the waves. From the hill you can still only see the back of them so usually il go off the whitewater trail and how many people are in the water to see if its worth going for a surf. I spotted my mate Jakes car in the carpark and chucked my wetty on before legging it down. I had a feeling something special might happen so it took the camera down just incase.
From the beach it looked like there were some sik ones coming through, so i headed straight out and met Jakey in the water. The size was about head-high to overhead on the sets, but there was a bit of a funky backwash that made things interesting to say the least. It was making surfing difficult but some of the spray looked incredible. So after spending a good 45mins i called it and took one in to get the camera.
As the tide was rising the backwash was getting worse and the boys out there really had to be patient to wait for the right wave. I was pretty confident someone would take off and get ejected - and they did, but i just wasnt in the spot to catch it on camera. Still as time went on i got some good photos and came out absolutely frothing!
Session details:
Location: Conto's Beach, Margaret River
Time: 6pm
Camera: GoPro Hero 3+ Black
Mode: Burst 30/2secs
Pic of the session
Sick one from early in the session. There were a lot of lefthanders coming through and id been washed further up the beach where its a bit more shallow. I saw this wide one coming and it started to peak up on the right. It was one of the heaviest waves of the session and i payed the price for this shot - getting dragged back over the falls and into the tumble dryer. Needless to say it was worth it for this beauty!
The session
Up close and personal with this one. I love the difference in focus from the wave to the backdrop - theres probably a technical term in photography for this so if somebody want to fill me in on that please do!
I was frothing to get this one but almost wish i was another meter or two closer to the action. The backwash would wash straight back from the beach to hit oncoming waves and create an explosion of energy and colour. It was really hard to be in the spot for these ones because judging the path of 2 waves is so unpredictable.
These two shots show even in the most unpredictable atmostphere in the world, things can still be beautifully linear. I feel as though the tails of the lip are almost dancing in the backdrop of the beautiful sunset.
Backwash and the slight onshore breeze playing tricks on a couple of the boys.
A classic West Australian sunset. Its easy to be grateful when you have this on your doorstep!
2 mugs, no tea. Until the next time Contos!
If you like these shots you can view previous #shorebreaksessions here!:
Shorebreak Sessions #2: South Terrigal Water-Photography session
Shorebreak Sessions #1: Top 5 pictures from my first Water-Photography session
If you are into water-photography and want to get on involved, no matter what level youre at, i am more than happy to extend the #shorebreaksessions tag to YOU! When you upload your pics just use the tag and comment on any of my posts with a link to your work. One of the most beautiful things about steemit is how communities are created within the community, and i would love nothing more than to get the ocean lover community rolling! This includes watermanship, surfing, bodyboarding, waves, freediving - anything that involves the ocean in all its rawness!