News
Keep in touch with information on newly released prints and news relating to Michael Willis Photography.
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20th May 2010.
A new print, 'Moonrise Over Burns Beach', has been added to the Limited Edition gallery. To take this photograph, I stood on the rocks at Burn’s Beach in near darkness while the waves pounded the rocky shore below me. I attached 0.6 and 0.9 grad filters to hold back the sky and hoped that the long exposure would bring out some interesting foreground colours while giving the ocean a silky, smooth appearance. As the only light came from the dim afterglow of sunset, I used a torch to work out my composition, carefully tracing the light around the rocks while looking through the viewfinder and ensuring all of the small rock pools were in frame and not cut in half. I placed the long pool of water in the centre of the frame so the eye was drawn in and taken on a journey down the rock ledge towards the horizon. I’d been at this location on the previous night and liked the way moon had briefly appeared through the clouds and was reflected onto the wet sand, but on this occasion I was lucky that everything fell into place at exactly the right time. Fortunately, my composition meant that the glowing moon not only brightened a rather dull area of sky, but was reflected back onto a small pool of water and brought life to the foreground. During the thirty second capture, waves poured over the rocks near the centre of the image, giving them an ethereal, milky quality as they flowed over the ledge and into the channel. When the shutter finally closed, I was delighted to see that it had exposed the subtle shades of pink, orange and yellow reflected in the wet rocks from the clouds above. |
 Moonrise Over Burns Beach |
8th May 2010.
A new panoramic print of Perth has been released. This image was taken from King's Park at dawn and the high vantage point enabled me to capture an incredible sunrise over the city and the Swan River. I love the way the fiery orange cloud looms over the city, casting it's warm light onto the side of the skyscrapers giving them a three dimensional look while the intense orange reflected onto the lake brings life to the foreground. |
 'Perth City Sunrise' has been added to the Limited Edition gallery. |
2nd April 2010.
Two new Limited Edition prints of Two Rocks beach have been released. These images were taken on consecutive nights in March 2010 when Perth was blessed with stunning sunsets and storm filled skies. I was fortunate enough to be in such a fantastic location to capture some of the best light and dramatic sunsets I've ever witnessed in Perth. 'Incoming Tide at Two Rocks' and a panoramic entitled 'Two Rocks Sunset Storm' have been added to the Limited Edition gallery. |
 Incoming Tide at Two Rocks |
 Two Rocks Sunset Storm |
20th March 2010.
Two new prints, 'Marmion Marine Park' and 'Eternal Flow' have been added to the Limited Edition gallery. |
 Marmion Marine Park |
 Eternal Flow |
22nd February 2010.
A new print, 'Sun Rays Over The Stirling Range', has been added to the Limited Edition gallery. This image was taken from the lower slopes of Bluff Knoll on a magical night in the Stirling Range National Park. The huge storm clouds that dwarfed the mountains were impressive enough, but when sun began to shine and backlit the falling rain I realised I was witnessing something quite special. The sun bathed the surrounding bushland in a glorious warm glow as shafts of light shone down onto the distant mountains. The scene was complete when crepuscular rays streamed down through the ever increasing gaps in the clouds. |
 Sun Rays Over The Stirling Range |
1st January 2010.
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30th December 2009.
A new print, entitled 'Marmion Beach Storm at Dusk' has been added to the Limited Edition gallery. A 25 second exposure captured the smooth flow of of the sea while lightning filled the skies over Hillary's Boat Harbour. |
 Marmion Beach Storm at Dusk |
27th December 2009.
I'm pleased to announce that my 'Esperance Tanker Jetty' photograph is being used to promote the Esperance Summer Sounds music festival. |
 My 'Esperance Tanker Jetty' photograph on the Esperance Summer Sounds Festival poster. |
10th November 2009.
Regular visitors may have noticed some changes to the website over the past few days. Open and Limited Edition Prints have been combined into the same gallery to make viewing my entire portfolio easier, while links to my pbase galleries appear at the bottom of the print gallery page. Due to frequent requests, I've increased the size of the images throughout the website to better encapsulate the detail captured in my photographs. |
12th August 2009.
My photograph of Skiddaw taken from the summit of Walla Crag features on the front cover of August's edition of Country Walking magazine. |
 The front cover of August's Country Walking magazine. |
25th July 2009.
A new print, titled 'Mid Winter Storm' has been added to the Limited Edition gallery. I'd had this location in mind for a while, but as a decent sunset always seemed to coincide with low tide I knew I'd be in for a frustrating, if not futile, wait for the waves to spill into the limestone gullies. However, by mid-winter, strong winds had whipped the sea into six metre swells, and despite another evening low tide I took a chance and headed down to the coast. Through the pouring rain, I saw huge waves force their way over the rocky coastal shelf, tantalisingly close to the limestone gully I'd had my eye on. But as the wind howled in from the ocean it pelted me with a horizontal deluge of rain and sea spray insuring my camera remained firmly tucked away. The sun dropped below the horizon and just as I felt like giving up, the wind was suddenly on my side and chased the rain clouds away. After setting up, I waited for the gully to fill with water and exposed the shot for four seconds to ensure the swirling froth outlined all the edges of the channel before it flowed back to sea. I was fortunate that the clouds were not only aligned in pleasing way but had burst open, causing a curtain of rain to be silhouetted against the remnants of sunset as it poured down over the ocean. |
 Mid Winter Storm |
24th July 2009.
A couple of my favourite images have been published in magazines in recent weeks. ‘Herdsman Lake Lightning Storm’ features on the front cover of August's edition of Australian Photography, while over in Switzerland, my 'North Yorkshire Moors' photograph of heather glowing in the late evening sun was used as a double page spread in Schweizer Familie magazine. |
 ‘Herdsman Lake Lightning Storm’ on the front cover of the August 2009 issue of Australian Photography magazine. |
 'North Yorkshire Moors' featured in Schweizer Familie magazine. |
8th June 2009.
New prints of Marmion Beach at sunset have been added to the Limited Edition gallery. While walking along the coastal path above Trigg Beach, I noticed the fluffy cumulus clouds over Hillary's Boat Harbour beginning to grow and change shape. With thunderstorms forecast and a knowledge that there would be low tides, I headed for Marmion Beach and found the usually submerged limestone rocks exposed and glowing in the afternoon sun. Using a wide angle lens, I placed the camera on the tripod directly above the gully and captured the movement of the water as it made its way back to sea. I was initially drawn to how the dramatic clouds echoed the gently swirling waves flowing though the rocky gullies, but I soon realised that the feel of the two elements evoked an entirely different response. I was intrigued by the dichotomous relationship between the turbulent skies and the calm flow of the sea and concentrated my compositions on this contrast. I took a series of images from last light until after sunset, recording the brooding menace of the newly formed cumulonimbus cloud as it began to dominate the horizon. As the light fell and exposure times increased the smooth flow of water further resembled the ominous storm clouds overhead, while simultaneously polarising the mood of these two essential components of the image. By the time the storm front began to approach, I was walking back down the beach in the dark, happy to have witnessed a magnificent sunset and with a series of images that evoke different responses from different senses. |
 Perth Coastline Storm at Sunset |
 Marmion Beach Storm at Sunset |
 Marmion Sunset Print |
 Storm over Hillary's Boat Harbour |