OCEAN Grove photographer Pete James has nearly been struck by lightning twice, nearly been washed off the Point Lonsdale Pier when a huge wave hit it and nearly been washed off rocks a few times.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also found himself in some pretty bizarre locations at weird times of the night and day.<\/p>\n
But Pete says when it comes to landscape photography, you have to be in it to win it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had quite a few close calls with nature,\u201d Pete said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith my landscape photography, I do spend a lot of time out early in the morning, out in wild weather and late at night, and quite a bit of travel and driving around.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you need to put yourself in the right situation to get the good shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just head out at 9am randomly and expect to get ground-breaking photos.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pete said his shot of a wave and a ship at the Point Lonsdale Pier had become one of his favourite images.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had been keeping an eye on the swell that was predicted to come all week and was getting pretty nexcited about the prospect of what I could capture that day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy initial plan was to head to Bells Beach before sunrise hoping to capture the iconic Bells line-up image as the first light of the day descended on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe swell was big, but it just wasn\u2019t lining up how I\u2019d hoped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I got a call from a friend who had gone to Point Lonsdale and he said the waves out from the pier were firing, so I raced up from Torquay to see what was going on there.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure enough there were quite a few large waves rolling through and a few photographers were out there getting shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of them left but I hung around as I could\u00a0see a ship coming towards the heads from Port Phillip.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could picture this image in my head, of the ship and a large wave breaking off the pier.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo as the ship sailed closer I was hoping like crazy that a large set wave would come past at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd well, as you can see, it obviously did.\u201d Pete said the light on the rear of the ship was his favourite part of the image.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me it is just the icing on the cake,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes all the elements come together perfectly for you to grab that awesome photo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pete said one of the things he loved doing these days was running his photography tours.<\/p>\n
\u201cI run weekend tours down the Great Ocean Road and also run six-day tours of the South Island of New Zealand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how a group of strangers become great friends within a day or two when you are together with a common interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to see people improve by the day and see their delight on their faces when they take one great shot after another.\u201d<\/p>\n
To learn more about Pete, visit petejamesphotography.com or follow him on Facebook – facebook.com\/petejamesphoto or instagram.com\/petejamesphoto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OCEAN Grove photographer Pete James has nearly been struck by lightning twice, nearly been washed off the Point Lonsdale Pier when a huge wave hit it and nearly been washed off rocks a few times. He\u2019s also found himself in some pretty bizarre locations at weird times of the night and day. But Pete says […]<\/p>\n