Hello and welcome to another retrospective. You are going to see a few landscape photos for the first few of these, as that was my bread and butter when I first started. It took me a while to spread my wings and try something different, it is important to expose yourself to multiple facets of your creative pursuit. I was a good landscape photographer, but it was not until I started shooting portraits that I was able to find a nice and artistic way to capture people interacting with these landscapes. I Have become a much more well-rounded photographer. Enough of that, let us talk about ‘The Calming Ocean Poles.’

Boat guidance poles in the water at sunset in Raby Bay, Queensland, Australia. Photo taken by Matthew Maguire a Melbourne based photographer.

This photo was shot after a long day of studying. I remember feeling really antsy after sitting in front of a screen during a Zoom class and needed to go for a drive. I hopped in my car and headed northeast to the coast, finding myself near Cleveland. I love Cleveland but I had taken some photos there recently and needed to mix it up. I took a few back streets staring at my map to know if I was still near the water and I came across this spot at Raby Bay. When I arrived, the sky was a bit boring, I did not see much potential for a colourful sunset, but I had had some luck on days like this before and decided to wait. About 10 mins into sitting behind my camera debating if I should pack up and head home early, a vibrant pink started to work its way into some of the distant clouds. I waited, taking a photo every few minutes watching as the pink crept its way into my foreground creating this stunning, vibrant pink cloud cover.

After heading home, I uploaded the images to my computer to sort through which ones were best. The shot you see here was the winner. The beautiful combination of soft pinks and dark, but not heavy blues really caught my eye. I did not notice during the photographing process, but a boat or something must have come through the image creating this curvy leading line out of frame. It is interesting how beautiful a handful of boat guidance beacons can be when combined with a great sunset. There is not really anything that I dislike about this image. I was able to get a good exposure, good colour temperature and great exposure time. I do regret how I originally presented this image. I had printed it with a large white, and bottom weighted border and stuck it to foam core. I have no photos, but trust me, it looked horrendous.

This photo is special to me as it is the first one of my photos to gain any sort of recognition. It was only small, but I entered this photo into an end of year Tafe photography competition and received a silver distinction. This was a small token, but it was an indicator that this thing that I had started as a small little hobby was something that I was rather good at. I was on the right track (whatever that track is) and I was excited for the future.

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