I must admit that along with the tripod there was also a "better" camera.

I am an old surfer, so the drone enables me to view the coastline in a completely different way, to the way that I did when growing up. I mainly use it for still photography, and get a bit distracted with abstract images over the rock platforms and along the beach.

On the day I captured "The Wave" there was quite a big swell running, and the flight was over a beach that I frequent regularly, so I was familiar with how the waves form and break in the area. My aim was to isolate a large wave, and try and capture the various encounters a surfer might have. In this instance I was able to catch a rider on the face of the wave, a couple emerging from duck diving the wash, with the balance of riders paddling for a position to either catch the next wave, or clear the break.

The image was taken in the morning, with the angle of the sun giving good definition, but not too high in the sky where the brightness of the sunshine would burn out the detail in the image. There has been a steep learning curve with image making, including the requisite post processing skills.

I was surprised to recently win an award for "The Wave" from Australian Photography Magazine for 2017 Photograph of the Year.

There's still so much more to learn about image making.

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