David Mark Bishop, All Along the Watchtower (Places)

This image was taken in mid August of 2019 whilst on a long weekend holiday, the background clearly shows where it is being iconic Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, QLD. The location itself is directly opposite Miami Surf Life Saving Club to be exact, I was staying in a beach cabin right next door at the holiday park and planned the shoot well in advance by pre-visualising the end result. I waited VERY patiently all day as it was shot at 3:17pm, in my mind’s eye I wanted a silhouette of a lifeguard rather than direct sunlight in the morning exposing their identity hence wanting him to remain hidden because to me and most likely any Australian they are ALL heroes of our beaches and iconic in their own right amongst Aussie culture. I did plan to shoot in Mono because in winter colour temperature just would not do the image justice. I planned a return in the much warmer months of late Summer yet that COVID 19 creature ruined it for me! I still plan to shoot it only this time around it will be in December or January / February 2021 but it’ll be in Colour most likely shooting on Fujifilm’s Velvia channel to really capture all the colour, warmth and glow of a classic GC summer. Tech Details:1/420 sec / f5.6 / +1/3 Compensation / iso 400 Fujifilm ACROS Channel (Normal / No Filter) Camera Gear: Body > Fujifilm XT2 Lens > xf 100-400 f4.5 WR Telephoto Zoom Other Gear: STEADIFY Waist Tripod (A god send for a Meaty Telephoto)

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.