If you have had the time to peruse my ocean art portfolio you would have noticed there is a vast range of ocean art from the Gold coast area and some from Hawaii and Bali also.
Several years ago when I first started photographing the ocean I was focused on shooting surfers, body-board riders and even the odd body surfer. I had a lot of success with shooting these guys with my main accolades was winning the “Digital camera world photographer of the year - 2010” picking up a nice cash price too. Now a days though my passion lies within capturing the ocean and movements of waves along the golden sand banks from Stradbroke island to Kingscliff in Northern NSW and everywhere in-between.
Surf photography on the Gold Coast is ever becoming increasingly popular, head down to Duranbah or Snapper rocks on any weekend and there is as many photographers as there are surfers. Many photographers start off extremely passionate about their love for surf photography, but as the years go by I’ve noticed some of the guys I was shooting with when I started, have slowly moved on to other forms of photography and drifted out of the scene. It’s not easy being a surf photographer or a photographer based on the Gold coast for that matter, the prices of cameras and camera gear is getting more and more competitive every month, it’s becoming even harder to show that different style and diversity in ones work. But with saying that, competition drives excellence.
Trying to be different is the only thing that will set us apart from the heard, now being different doesn’t always mean you will be liked but at least you’re giving it a “SHOT” no pun intended J
Take this shot for example; this is an underwater photo of a wave crashing down on the surface above my head. This is certainly a different look/feel and moment in time compared to a lot of what the other guys are shooting. I’m not going to give away too many details on how I shot this as I feel if I give too many of my secrets away, the rest of the Gold coast will soon follow.
Currently the water clarity on the Gold coast is unbelievable so I’m hoping I can get out in time and shoot some new work I have been conjuring up over the last year or so
You can purchase this artwork on canvas or metallic prints via my online store. www.jonwrightphoto.comand click store link. This particular image is also printed on metallic paper in Gold Coast Ocean images gallery & café in Broadbeach Australia.
Don’t forget you can view more of my work on FACEBOOK, TWITTER and INSTAGRAM @jonwrightphoto. If you would like a shoutout on Instagram make sure you #shoutmejonwright so I can see your shots. Currently I am giving away 2 shoutouts a week, one on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon. Some amazing photos have been coming through recently which has been great to see.
Lastly make sure you’re following me on twitter as a new competition will be released very shortly..
Another one from my Gold coast photography series is called “vortex blue”. Vortex blue was taken on the same day as “reflections of Surfers paradise” and you can read all about it here. Vortex blue is a result of underwater surf photography, it was shot early in the morning just after the sun had risen from the horizon; it was a magical morning with super clear water and golden sand just north of Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast.
Vortex blue is the exact moment in time when a wave crashes down on the surface, the waves pressure creates this cylindrical like effect and rolls on through to the shoreline, eventually becoming nothing but foam and water.
As you’re probably already aware I specialise in ocean art and surf photography on the Gold Coast. I absolutely love waking up to the crisp mornings where the wind is offshore and the waves are groomed to perfection whether they are big or small. I’m often checking the forecasts for the waves, wind and also the tides on Coastalwatch.com, swellnet.com.au and also seabreeze. It takes all these conditions to come together to shoot ocean art.
Vortex Blue can be viewed in person at Gold Coast Ocean images gallery & café in Broadbeach Australia, directly opposite the Gold coast convention centre.
You can purchase this artwork on canvas or metallic prints via my online store. www.jonwrightphoto.com and click store link. All photographs are produced at the highest quality.
Don’t forget you can view more of my work on FACEBOOK, TWITTER and INSTAGRAM @jonwrightphoto. If you would like a shoutout on Instagram make sure you #shoutmejonwright so I can see your shots. Currently I am giving away 2 shoutouts a week, one on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon. Some amazing photos have been coming through recently which has been great to see.
Lastly make sure you’re following me on twitter as a new competition will be released very shortly.
Purchase Gold Coast artwork from my online store and also from Gold coast images gallery and cafe in Broadbeach.
My second image during this month is called “Reflections of Surfers paradise” fine art by Jon Wright. This magnificent piece of Gold Coast art was taken just north of Surfers paradise on the Gold Coast. I was up early in the morning before sunrise with a certain vision in mind, cold and just barely making it to the beach because I didn’t fill up my car with fuel, none the less I arrived at my destination on the northern end of the Gold coast to be greeted by a HUGE pelican. I quickly ran back to my car to grab my camera but he had flown away by the time I got my camera out.
Ocean art and fine art seascape photography on the Gold coast is where most of my photographs take place. Being a Gold Coast photographer has many advantages including the beautiful ocean right at our doorstep along with a beautiful city scape. In this image I have tried to capture both the city line and the beautiful waves and their colours. I recently had this image placed on a gicle’ canvas in a Gold coast photography gallery “Gold coast images gallery & café” in Broadbeach which is certainly becoming a Gold Coast attraction. The artwork really does look 10 times better than on your desktop background so make sure you pop in and have browse.
Being able to find peace in such a busy area is something unique and special and extremely difficult to find on the Gold Coast. However on this day there was no one else in site. I was truly able to appreciate my surrounds and am extremely lucky to get such an amazing piece of photography.
You can purchase this artwork on canvas or metallic prints via my online store. www.jonwrightphoto.com and click store. All photographs are produced at the highest quality.
Don’t forget you can view more of my work on FACEBOOK, TWITTER and INSTAGRAM @jonwrightphoto. If you would like a shoutout on Instagram make sure you #shoutmejonwright so I can see your shots. Currently I am giving away 2 shoutouts a week, one on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon. Some amazing photos have been coming through recently which has been great to see.
Lastly I have loads of different canvas prints and photgraphy artwork from the Gold coast on my online store. This one has certainly been a popular canvas purchase for the home with the 2:1 pano ratio. Head on over and grab yourself a lasting memory.
Over the next month I will be posting one blog a week about the ocean artwork I have taken over the last several years. I will include seascape photographs, underwater photography and surf photography. The love for the ocean and waves was built into my DNA, a family living just north of the Gold Coast and not far from the Sunshine coast we visited the beach regularly. From a very young age I remember one of the first times my father had taken me out on a boogie board up on the Sunshine coast of Australia. I remember we used to head up the north coast every Easter for a family holiday. My dad bought me a foam core body board, I had absolutely no idea what this contraption was or how I was even going to catch a wave on this thing. The first wave I caught though was all it I needed to be hooked.
To this day I find surfing and surf photography my way of meditation, being out in the ocean washes away all your worries of life and your key focus is the environment around you. There comes a times that you’re watching the shadows below you, you see a dorsal fin pop up in front of you and your heart races only to realise it is one of the most majestic animals on this earth, the bottlenose dolphin. The ocean is perfect but a moody place to be! I hope the images I post and share with you over the next few weeks, capture this emotion and love for the ocean I have.
This particular surf photograph from a well-known spot on the Gold Coast called, “South straddie” aka “Stradbroke island” or “T.O.S” was the first time I used my 70-200mm canon lens in the water. I was a little unsure on how it would perform being such a long lens, but started to get the hang of it.
A body boarder begins his descent into a wave as the rainbow on the wave is pitched behind the subject. A perfect feeling, a perfect view, who wouldn’t love this?
This subject has been on my mind for a very long time. Before I start this post I want to make sure it’s clear that I am by no means a veteran surf photographer and my love for photography and in particular “surf photography” came to fruition from seeing all those fantastic shots that graced the covers of the surf mags that others had put before me.
I’ve been shooting body boarding, surfing, ocean art and wave photography for almost 5 years now. Most recently I’ve noticed the increase of “surf photographers” on the Gold Coast. Many people started surf photography to capture their mates surfing or even to escape the crowds of the infamous Gold Coast hustle. Now I’ve started to notice that surf photography on the Gold Coast is in fact saturated with “surf photographers”. My instagram feed is filled with people who are “photographers” and once you click on their feed or Facebook page you soon realise they’re just shooting with a gopro. No photographic skill involved, just point and shoot. Now don’t get me wrong, the gopros seem like an incredible camera, especially for HD video. I have several gopro shooters I follow on instagram from the likes of Robbie Crawford and Dan Bennington who in my opinion are at the top of their game and the skill comes into being at the right spot at the right time, both of which have it locked down. The quality and style of these two are what other “gopro surf photographers” should be aiming for.
Unfortunately because of this craze it ruins things for the guys that are truly about taking a great picture and trying to make a living out of surf photography. Let me paint a picture for you, you head out to your local surf break or find a spot that is secluded from the crowds. Within minutes you have 5 guys with their gopros getting in your way, getting in your shot. Only to find out they also have an Instagram feed with mediocre images with another 5 go pro users in their pictures. It is honestly getting on my nerves. As with surf etiquette there is a “surf photographers” etiquette that is being overlooked.
I personally like to do things like this:
Now I know not everyone will do things like this, but I’m hoping it give the new breed of surf photographers some direction.
Like I said at the beginning, gopros can take some incredible images and “surf photographers etiquette” should get you thinking about your approach in the next session. At a recent shot out at Froggies on the Gold Coast I counted 7 people shooting water with a gopro.
Now there is a whole other side to this phenomenon with photography and social media and how it’s destroying the photographic industry but I’ll leave that for a future post and these guys touched on the subject recently.
Remember you can follow me on Facebook, instagram and twitter. #jonwrightphoto and purchase my ocean art work on canvas and metallic prints HERE.
The past week my Facebook followers and twitter fans would’ve noticed some photos of mine popping up that “Gold coast images gallery and café” have been sharing. Gold Coast images gallery and café are working together to bring you fresh photographs and display amazing ocean art from the Gold Coast Australia.
These giclee prints and fine art photos have been displayed on both metallic paper and also canvas. The quality is amazing and they look incredible on large canvas. Make sure you head on over to their Facebook page where they’re currently giving away a 150x100cm stretched canvas of “glass paradise” an image I had taken along the beach of Surfers Paradise Gold Coast.
Gold coast images gallery and café also do a great coffee and some nice takeaway food. I encourage you to head on down to Broadbeach and purchase a coffee and browse through the artist’s work, including mine. The address is 7/2723 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia 4218
You can purchase the canvas prints and metallic photographs from them or you can head on over to my store and buy art online too.
Framed art looks incredible with the metallic prints and you can also purchase panoramic photographs from them. Check out my updated online store which includes many of the wall art photographs that are displayed at the gallery.
This was taken on the 01/01/2013 at Lake Moogerah just west of Brisbane CBD. This was the first time I ventured out this way and was a little lost with my location. The flies were killing me on a particular route I went, so I back tracked and went towards the entrance. The sun was probably 10 minutes away from setting so I made a quick decision and ventured down to the banks whilst dodging cow pooh.
Three shot pano – This is a three shot pano, each individual image was taken one after the other. The three shots are edited in lightroom and then exported as a jpeg file. From there all three shots are open in photoshop cs6 and then automated photomerge will produce the blend for you. It doesn’t stop there though, if you’re a perfectionist like myself, you will want to go over the whole image and make sure there are nice clean lines (although photoshop does a great job).
Camera equipment used
Canon 5DmkIII – ISO 50 – F16 – 30second exposure on each image.
Canon 17-40mm @35mm
Lee filter holder kit with 2 filters on there, (can’t remember exact filters but I think it was a Daryl Benson 4 stop reverse ND and maybe a 0.6 ND grad soft.)
Canvas giclee, metallic prints and also framed metallic prints are for sale. Head on over to my store www.jonwrightphoto.com and click store.
I also sell downloadable wallpapers for your desktop computers. Wallpapers are $3.00 each and I have many different varieties. Surf wallpapers, landscape photography wallpaper and ocean art wallpaper.
Any more questions shoot them through to me on Facebook, twitter or contact myself through email. jon@jonwrighphoto.com
If you have been fortunate enough to get your hands on a copy of the most recent issue of Capture magazine, you would’ve noticed one of my photos (exit wave) is on the cover of the lift out. Australia’s Top emerging photographers is a competition run by the guys and gals at Capture mag. I first got wind of this magazine a little over a year ago now, when a fellow photographer (Trent Mitchell) had won the overall award. So I marked it down in my diary to stay alert and enter in the following year.
The competition is based on a body of work of 6 images, they also look into your website, a description of who you are and what you do. This is all taken into consideration when the judges select the finalist. I entered into the landscape category, the portrait category and also the sport category. Luckily enough I was able to take out second place in the sports photographer section.
One of the comments the judges said “One thing I have to say to up and coming sport photographers is to go out of their comfort zone and shoot more than one sport” I sat and thought about it for a while and totally agree with them. Maybe it’s not directed at me personally but I certainly believe I should be shooting more than just surfing and bodybuilding.
Looking forward to showing you guys a completely different side to my sport photography in the next 6 months.
The winners are:
Overall winner - Ben Mcrae
Documentary/photojournalism - Winner - David Maurice Smith, Runner up - Ed Giles
Advertising - Winner - Stuart MIller, Runner up - Rachel Brown
Portrait - Winner - Ryan Fitzgerald, Runner up - Ben McRae
Editorial/Fashion - Winner - Alexandrena Parker, Runner up - Phillip Papadis
Student- Winner - Jana Mare', Runner up - Bryan Sun
Sport - Winner - Jaimi Chisholm, Runner up - Jon Wright
Landscape - Winner - Ben McRae, Runner up - Jerome Berbigier
Dark and gloomy morning filled with shades of grey, clouds resembling smoke from a bushfire or a chimney on a cold winters night. The sun began to shine through and light was seen for miles, the perfect combination of elements for the seasonal photographer. Time passed and people’s lives slowly withered away one step at a time, one push of a “like” button and one tweet to an unknown fan. What are you here for?
The Easter weekend crowd filled the car parks from far and wide like the Easter bunny fills the hare he wishes to mate with. Pests, crowding the shores of the Gold coast and it would seem impossible to compose a photograph without a rabbit popping up in the scene. Kids running, parents screaming, where is the isolation on the Gold coast? Getaway said it was…………….. This was supposed to be a get away, but the only term to use this is whilst the sunsets before my eyes. Within 10 minutes my Currumbin Sunset will disappear and so will the crowds.
Hope
The reflections in the alley mimic that of most photographers, each trying to capture a unique view, capture that shot that will make people stop and stare. From top, to the bottom, as photographers we are all chasing that magic photo. Suddenly, the crowds separated as if Moses himself was standing in front of me, separating the crowds that would other wise ruin a photo.
Horizon
This is what we have been waiting for. That special moment, that time to shine through the crowds and onto the land where we mark our territory. The horizon in the distance, we can see the light, oh so close but will we ever reach the edge? This is it, peace in a world over populated with technology, I sit, staring through my viewfinder and realise what I am witnessing……………………………………….
Today I found out one of my clients has successfully gained a sponsorship deal with the House of Supplements & King Sport Industries Team. This is now the second athlete that I have taken photos for that has gone on to use the photos to secure sponsorship deals. The sportraits I offer are of the highest quality and are proven to help with getting prospective sponsors attention. What is a sportrait? It’s a play on words that mixes together portrait photography and action photography. A sportrait is a photo of you “the client” doing what they love doing “your chosen sport”. So if you’re an enthusiastic athlete or someone who loves their sport and is wanting some top quality photography, then make sure you contact me. I have a team that will work on tailoring a concept that will give you that extra punch. I use high quality equipment and personal to make sure we get the photo you are wanting.
One of Jarrod’s photos he used to get their attention.
Make sure you head on over to the house of supplements and once again well done Jarrod, keep up the hard work and dedication.
