For the third time in 7 days, the skies lit up with intensively vivid hues, like a Warhol piece. Sometimes we don’t get any colours in the skies for months. To get this many in a week is pretty cool. Makes shooting flat Bondi very interesting. It’s true. I’ve seen a helluva lot of sunrises. Thousands. […]

The calm before the storm. All still, neat, organised at sunrise this morning. At 12 pm I write to you and it’s now hooooooowwling 30 knots of Nor-west winds. If there were swell, it would’ve been blown out to sea by now. The next time you will be surfing is this Thursday/Friday. Don’t expect stand up […]

We’re having a fantastic run of colour in the mornings. Looking out the window right now, staring at dark grey clouds and rain, you probably wouldn’t believe me! Lucky I nailed some photographic evidence. The colour didn’t hang around long though…blink and you’d miss this one. Our Underwater Dance series featuring The Australian Ballet in […]

We’re pretty lucky. Some of the stuff I see down the end of the road is amazing – like this mornings sunrise at Bondi. Just the right amount of thin cloud created a beautiful little colour curtain around Ben Buckler this morning. Hope you took a few minutes to watch the day unfold. Waves – […]

Today I have something a little different for you, a unique series of images shot underwater, of The Australian Ballet, wearing custom Dion Lee. We’ve called this project the ‘Underwater Dance’. We used the new Paper platform on Dropbox to all work together online, as all the parties involved live outside Sydney. Read more about this here […]

It’s sometimes hard to get into the ocean before the sun’s warmth has risen over Ben Buckler. In the depths of winter, I force myself to swim early because I know how good it feels afterwards – sets you up for the day! (And it’s kinda my job) Tiny waves, still surfable. Waist high sets. […]

A little bump in swell provided some rideable surf this morning. It’s no Nias 20 foot right-hander with boats going over the falls, but it’s contestable. Calling it waist to shoulder high at Bondi. The main attraction of the morning was the sunrise – wow – what colours! After weeks of clear mornings, we finally […]

Good morning crew. The beach is all quiet, no waves, clouds or people this morning at sunrise. They say swell is coming, but the forecasts lately have been very inaccurate. I wanna see it before I call it. Yesterday they couldn’t run Boardriders due to lack of waves. This video is funny, commenting on the […]

Hurro, It’s Friday so let’s kick off with a short film, from last month’s boat trip in the salubrious Mentawais, all shot on my phone (Google Pixel 2). Secondly, I owe you an apology. Up until today, you’ve been viewing my images in low-res, lo-def, 1990’s blurry resolution. So if you have a fancy Retina, […]

There’s still a wave on this morning; it’s around shoulder high but a little inconsistent. The winds are WNW, and the swell is from the south benefiting Bondi frothers. The left near 2nd ramp had some excellent little runners – but the morning crowds were keen! Busy. Glorious sunny day, again. Go outside for lunch. […]

I’ve returned to the south hopefully in sync with a new SE swell which is overdue. This morning was showing promise of a 2-3 foot set, but the 6:40 am high tide was concealing any decent bumps. Wait for lower tides and I reckon there will be something. Clear skies. Colder in the water (or […]

Normally I chase reefs with 200-metre piping right-handers and no crowds…however, this reef is just as spectacular without a single wave breaking – The Great Barrier Reef (the largest reef system in the world!). Even Astronauts can see The Great Barrier Reef from space as it’s 2300 kilometres long, containing 2900 reefs and around 900 […]

It was a reverse Bondi sunrise today, all the colours glowing on the opposite side of the bay. Very pink one! I was surprised to see decent waves this morning (Maximum shoulder high). I think I arrived in sync with a small swell pulse. The left bank was spitting out some trimmable, hackable lefts. I […]

I spend a lot of time overseas but have found some of the best beaches are right here in New South Wales. We’re lucky to have countless bays and clear blue water (sans humans). Today’s images are shot from a short hike to the Great Lakes of NSW – up on the Mid-North Coast, only […]

It’s been quite an amazing week for surf…and Bondi has some great little banks. The swell is smaller today but there is still a head high wave out there. Suns out too. If you’re shackled to your office cubicle, don’t worry, there is a new swell coming tonight. You’ll get some. Plenty of options. I […]

I’m a coastal honkie. I spend 99.9% of my time hugging the beaches and rarely venture inland. Today I ended up 1000 kilometres inland for my daily shoot! On the VIC/SA borders with NSW you’ll find an ancient dried up lake now called Mungo National Park. It’s a bizarrely beautiful place with ancient sand/clay formations […]

Good waves, good times…hope you’ve got the day off work. After so much recent agitation it looks like the ocean has finally settled. Bondi has some really fun waves on offer this morning. It looks like the sand movements from the recent pounding swell have improved the bank setup and closed the large gutters in […]

Today I’ve flown 200 clicks down the coast to give you a broader surf report. Tough job – I know. Soon drones will probably do my job, and I’ll sleep in. (Drones didn’t shoot today’s photos – btw) Heading south from Wollongong it’s spectacular to see all the beaches from above. New South Wales is blessed with […]

There’s a thumping, chunky, monster swell in town today. It’s big, very big. Like 8 foot plus big. Winds were offshore this morning but it looks pretty rogue for surfers. If you wanna get wet, you will either have to go to a very protected south corner or hit a reef that holds chunk. We […]

Quite confusing what to wear in the mornings, the weather has been all over the shop. This morning at sunrise was teeshirts only. Small confused north wind swell is in town, the odd 2 footer. Nothing special. The biggest news of the day is that it’s gonna heat up to 25 degrees – beach weather […]

There was some crazy tooting going on this morning; it woke me up. For a while, I couldn’t work out what the hell was going on??? Then I realised they were fog horns on the ships in the harbour – but tooting that much? A drunken sailor at the helm? Oh boy – what a […]

Holy smokes, it’s turned orrn overnight…just not at Bondi. Bondi looks terrible and neglecting the primary ENE swell source. Loads of other northern exposed beaches have 4 foot plus waves with clean grooming offshores. Booya! I only shot one surfer this morning, Blake Thornton, as he was the only one out! It looked a bit […]

I’ve had 3 coffees trying to formulate today’s update. There’s not a lot going on down the beach. Bondi’s sandbanks aren’t great and there wasn’t much light this morning. Swell is lacking but hopefully tomorrow we will get a bit more. If you’d like a framed print of my recent shoots in Newcastle, go here. I’m […]

I’ve driven past Newcastle a hundred times but rarely stopped. To be honest, I didn’t know much about the joint…but after spending a weekend there I have a new found respect for this vibrant coastal city. ‘Newy’ is 160 clicks north of Sydney and has an incredible set of beaches, all with promising surfing setups. The […]

The claws of winter are starting to dig in. The beach mornings are very, very quiet. A 7-degree start today has deterred most away from their morning swims and surfs. Once you’re in, it’s all good. Getting in, well make it quick. Looking at the swell radar – it looks small for days and days. […]

Today’s one of those days where you can’t quite make out what’s going to happen. It’s volatile. I’ve visited the beach a few times, and it has always been something different. This morning, I sat around in the darkness, waiting for some light to shoot. There were waves, but even the ocean looks confused between a […]

Today’s initial surf forecast was for 2 footers and a declining swell. It’s totally wrong with 4 footers and holding swell. Combine that tricky forecast with rain – and you’ve scored yourself an empty line up – BONUS! Today began sunny, but the rain has moved in – and looks like it’s here to stay. […]

Felt very cold this morning. Much colder than other June mornings. My phone was calling it 7 degrees, but sitting on a wet rock, shooting, before sunrise it felt much colder. Fingers went numb. It was good to see the swell is hanging around. I saw 3-4 footers this morning, clean too! Gotta love this […]

Yeah, it’s real cold today. Well for Sydney that is. Whenever I write that line, I get emails from readers in Alaska, Iceland and Dunedin calling me a winter wuss. Winter is much more exciting for swell though. We have a brand-spanking’ new south swell in town today, and there is sets breaking over head high. […]

The moment you’ve all been waiting for has come. After a long week of wild stormy weather, finally, the winds are offshore, the rain has dissipated, the swell remains. Yeah! It’s looking pretty sweet out there for surfers. No, not pumping, just fun. The banks seem a bit all over the shop. It’s the best […]

I didn’t get a chance to shoot this morning for a variety of (boring) reasons. I will spare you. Luckily I have a server with 20 terabytes to house all my images. Here are a few shots from favourite locations that you haven’t seen. I did a beach fly by and witnessed much cleaner conditions, […]

10:05pm, Thursday night…THAT’s when the wind will subside. That’s when the surf will clean up and you’ll be busting out of the gates to get a week’s worth of waves. Be patient.  If you’re frothing I suggest driving over to Manly, that will be outta the wind and clean. Friday will be a good surf […]

Today’s a hybrid, a mixed bag between Bondi, Curly and Mentawais. There’s no correlation between these locations, they’re just some JPGs lying around on my desktop from recent shoots. A rainy, cold, junkie day is a great opportunity to show a mixed bag. I’d expect to see waves above 4 foot today at Bondi, but it’s going […]

Hurro. It’s cool, calm and waveless. AKA Lake Bondi. Good for a (brief) swim, a walk, a few photos…then something productive. (AKA work) Pretty quiet in the swell department for this time of year. Tiny all week long. There’s a big south storm brewing for Monday. Looks very windy. Maybe that will bring a few waves […]

Cracker of a day outside. Cool morning, the sand was frosty, but the water warm and inviting. Swam for 1 hour with my camera. Very invigorating! Minimal crew out, high tide fat 2 footers, clean offshore…sunshine blaring and a top of 18. Not bad for winter. Pretty much tiny surf conditions until Monday when a […]

Whilst the wave department has failed this morning the sunrise department has stepped up a gear. Amazing skies. I’m having a good run of these colourful skies following me around the globe at the moment. A cool day ahead on land with a maximum of 18 degrees. The water is still pretty warm, I am […]

I’ve returned from my little fling with the Indonesian islands. I can still feel the motion of the boat whilst standing firmly on dry land. Had a blast over there, not too shabby around here either. 2-3 footers, perfect sunshine, offshores and barely anyone down the beach this morning. Bingo. Good times. Get out there. My […]

After surfing 26 surf breaks in 12 days we’re now heading home. We’re done. Cooked. Spaghetti arms. I haven’t worn shoes or touched dry land since May. And barely any mobile reception – it feels good to get off the grid. Today I’ve switched on my computer and have dozens of messages saying they wanna holiday […]

May, June, July are usually the best months to come to the Mentawais for surfing. It’s when all the winter storms down near the roaring 40s, 50s and 60s kick in, dispersing swell in this direction. I won’t lie, this trip we’ve had a consistent run of 3-5 foot days and beautiful weather – nothing […]

Fact: The best waves in Indonesia are usually lefts. It’s due to the physical orientation of Indonesia and how it relates to the South Westerly swell source. On a boat charter, there is a constant divide between the natural footers and goofys – we’ve got a 50-50 split this year and the wolf pack go […]