A very touristy thing to do in Byron Bay is to visit the Byron Bay lighthouse, located on Cape Byron, the most easterly point of mainland Australia. Most tourists visit during the day, many at sunset but very few bother to get up early in the morning for the sunrise. We did.
Heavy cloud cover meant we were all but to miss out on the daily sun ritual. Few people who arrived around the same time as us have left, as the rain started to drizzle. On the horizon the sun was rising behind the clouds quite quickly. At one point it reached a position where a it could shine through a gap between the clouds. This is the moment I have captured this photograph.
The curtain of sun rays between the clouds and the ocean surface and a strong, but not overpowering reflection of the sun disk on the water created a beautiful spectacle. It lasted only couple of minutes.
Here is a photograph I have taken at sunrise of the Kingfisher Bay from the Fraser Island pier. Again, as in the other photographs from the same morning smoke from coming from the Southern end of the island reflected the light of rising sun.
Here is another photograph I have taken at a sunrise in the Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island. There is a long, rusty barge docked at the pier. It is so long that my 24mm lens was not wide enough to photograph it from a side. I had to get to the loading platform at the pier and photograph the barge at an angle to get this capture.
The Jetty Hut pier is the entry point to the Kingfisher Bay Resort. This marine hub is ideal for observing the welcoming swallows, or if you manage to get up early you can see a multitude of stingrays and other marine life passing gently under the pier.
This photograph of the pier was taken just after sunrise. The thick background is a mixture of morning fog and smoke coming from the south part of the Fraser Island, reminding us this is fire season in Australia and even tourists resorts are not immune from extreme weather.
My wife and I took an early morning walk along the small lake within the Kingfisher Bay resort on the Fraser Island. This was just before the sunrise and the air stood still. Very still. The small lake created perfect reflective surface. At one point I have noticed that a certain angle the view and its reflection had a perfect light balance, where it was almost impossible to tell where the reflections started and where the real branches really were. It looked very artistic.
It was a very nice walk resulting in many photographs I will present over next few days. It was also one of the rare mornings my wife enjoyed raising that early and coming along with me to see what I photograph and how I take photographs.
