Under and over: Jetties

I was born in Australia, albeit it an Australia that looked, felt and was vastly different to the Australia of today.

It was better before in my opinion, less...umm...less bloody stupid than it is now - nutbaggery abounds these days. I'm fortunate to have been born and raised here though and am grateful for that; despite the current-day nutbaggery (which occurs all over the world) it's a good place to have grown up and a good place to live, generally.

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One of the greatest things about Australia is the diversity of landscapes, scenery, ecosystems and climates. Mountain ranges, grassy plains, deserts and arid lands, lush tropical jungles, snow-covered mountains, verdant valleys, lakes and rivers, bush and scrublands, ancient gorges and many thousands of kilometres of coastal regions exist, and so much more besides; it's vast, diverse, ruggedly beautiful and brutal sometimes...and I've been fortunate to have been to so much of it.

Along the way I've taken some photographs but, because I'm as old as the dinosaurs (the last remaining G-dogosaurus in fact), so many of my photographs are pre-digital-camera era and are difficult to share because they're printed on photo paper. They sit in boxes, many thousands of photos, and I take them out now and then to flip through...I love it as they carry me back to where they were taken and the memories created there. I lose myself for hours in that past-time.

These days I use my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III and Samsung S22 Ultra to take photos and, whilst the quality of my photography probably hasn't improved much, they're easy to share. I was flipping through some over the last week and decided a little feature of some jetty shots might be fun so here's a selection of photos taken at the beach and all featuring jetties.

I'm typically a point and shoot kind of photographer and don't often play around with settings although I will now and then. Most of the shots in this post were taken with my current S22 Ultra or the S20 and S21 models that I had previously. I used my Olympus for some though, I wonder if you can tell the difference between the shots?

I'm fortunate to live quite close to the beach and because there's so many beaches in Australia crowds are almost unheard of; that's perfect!

Sure, there's crowds at places like Bondi and Manly beaches in Sydney which is why I stay away from them...Too many people doesn't suit me well. We have over thirty four thousand kilometres of coastline and something like twelve thousand swimmable beaches though, so there's plenty of choice. I always look for ones with few people, which isn't too difficult to find.

I walk a lot, wandering along minding my own business lost in my own thoughts until I see something I might like a photo of then point and shoot hoping for a good result. Every now and then I get a reasonable snap, reasonable by my standards anyway, and I'll admit, it feels good...the moment, and getting a good snap.

It's amazing how different light conditions bring different results to the photograph and I play around a lot as the light changes...That's the beauty of digital photography, one can keep snapping. The two images above and the one below demonstrate my point about the different light conditions and results.

Sometimes I try to get creative like in the next two shots.

The first was taken of a jetty pylon that had barnacles encrusted all over it...I risked getting eaten by a great white shark to get this shot looking back to the beach. One came swimming by, took a sniff and realised I wasn't a tourist so simply said g'day and buggered off to find a tourist to eat.

The second one below was taken of a child's (maybe adult's) sand castle I came across on the beach. That evening was quite windy to be honest, uncomfortably so, but the wind whipped up the sand into what looked like little waves and they made shadows which I think was a pretty nice look.

I chose jetties as the theme in this post as I have quite a few shots with them in frame.

I like how they cast shadows and there's the juxtaposition of the man-made jetty against the naturally occurring beach and ocean that is interesting also. Of course, there's the changing colours of the setting sun or the water itself, cloud formations and the lines and shapes caused by waves lapping at the shore to add something nice to the shot as well. The next six shots demonstrates that.

I love outdoor places, in general, and spending time there with my thoughts and in the peaceful quite of nature. I love living in Australia also, a country that gives a person so many outdoor options.

It doesn't matter if it's the outback, mountain areas, lakes, rivers or anywhere else, I feel at home when surrounded by nature and Australia is one of those places where there's so much to enjoy, all different and quite unique. I feel a strong affinity with the ocean and beach, (despite finding sand annoying), and bringing them together with the sunset all in the same moment feels special indeed. It's one of my go-to places considering how close I live to the beach and I always find something of value, a photo opportunity or peace of mind.

As the sun sets on this post I wonder...does nature make you feel things deeply like it does me? Do you feel more in touch with the planet around you and your true self within when you're in natural places?

If you'd like to comment below about my post, ask any questions (don't make them technical, I won't know the answers) or just comment please do so. Also, feel free to tell me what wondrous things you feel within yourself because of spending time with nature and share some thoughts on a special moment you've spent within mother nature's embrace.