Some weeks ago, I caught up with some good friends, Wellsy and Sonya, while they were on holidays in Coolum, Sunshine Coast.

We'd arranged to do some photos of the whole family over the weekend but given the beautiful location of Coolum, I decided I would also get some landscapes while I was there.

Not having been to Coolum for probably 10 years, I had to use google maps' satellite feature to find a good spot for getting a landscape shot.

Wanting to be there just before dawn began, I rose at 2:30 am, left Brisbane at 3:00 am and arrived to find Coolum still in darkness.

My chosen feature for the landscape shots was a rocky outcrop between Coolum Beach and 1st Bay. It was somewhat treacherous walking out over the jagged rocks in the dark (with no torch) "feeling" my way with an extended tripod leg. Once I almost stepped into a rock pool that looked like sand but was actually water covered with sea-foam.

Here are some of the shots of that morning:

I was lucky enough that the surfer in this shot stayed reasonably still for the 25 second exposure.