Surf Coast Arts Trail 2025

PASSIONATE surfer and award-winning seascape photographer Tal Lemmens asks himself the vexing question just about every time he faces the waves: ride them for exhilaration or capture them for exhibition?

“That’s often the internal quarrel I get into now,” Tal said.

“Sometimes it’s a very hard spot to be in, but I never regret whatever I decide. It’s a good problem to have.”

Lemmens grew up on the waves at Warrnambool with his surfer dad Marty and shifted to the Surf Coast in 2017.

His pursuits as a land-based hobby photographer took a life-changing turn when he bought a waterproof camera housing from a mate.

With that purchase his calling to the sea became a calling to capture in photographic frames reflections of its immense power, drama, dynamics, colours and beauty.

In wetsuit and fins, with up to 10 kilograms of camera tethered to him, he takes on the water and all of its moods, seeking to preserve the most fleeting of moments – the impossibly perfect symmetry of a wave, its thundering crash, a shattering of droplets, a glinting of sunlight, a dapple of calm.

Lemmens said being in the moment is what got him into photography.

“You would call it mindfulness really, when things are what they are around you, and you’re just soaking it in.

“I think that for me is the love of it. It’s kind of like this wild chase. You’re out there and you don’t know if the perfect wave is going to come through, or the perfect backwash.

“You’ve just got to be there and hope that you’re in the right spot, and that the camera aligns, and that your settings are on-point.”

Determination counts. Some days Lemmens’ exertions might produce ‘diddly-squat’. On others 1500 to 2000 shots from one session might produce four or five he is happy with – or even fewer.

What matters is what they offer in mood, precision and immersive experience.

“I think a big part of my photography is allowing viewers to go on a journey themselves. I love the ability where people can have a wander through an image and create their own reality from what they are seeing,” he said.

People will be able to make that experience their own as Lemmens again joins hundreds of artists sharing their craft during this year’s Surf Coast Arts Trail, on 2 and 3 August.

Having debuted on the Trail last year – exhibiting in a space at Torquay’s Ocean Grind cafe – he is looking forward to returning.

“It was such a hit, I was super rapt with it, and lucky to get the support of Mark at Ocean Grind,” Lemmens says.

“I actually had some customers who have been following my work for a while come down from Melbourne, so that’s a really great testimony for the Trail. They travelled down for the weekend to come and meet me and ended up purchasing some work.”

This year he is looking forward to exhibiting from his own studio space in Torquay, which is also home to his growing wedding photography business.

“I love connecting with people, and people are really curious about how I get my shots,” Lemmens said.

“It makes a nice experience chatting to people and explaining how I go about it.”

Learn more about the 2025 Surf Coast Arts Trail via surfcoastartstrail.com.au and about Lemmens’ wild chases at @tallemmens, facebook.com/tallemmensphoto and tallemmensphoto.com .

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