Diving Shelly Beach

It’s been a little while since i’ve been in the water for a dive for some reason. Maybe it’s the chaos that’s going on during this pandemic, maybe it’s because the water is so damn cold. However, I decided to pull all the scuba gear out and head to Shelly Beach with a good mate Alan and venture in to see what wildlife we could find.

We headed off from the beach into the testicle shrinking water, with Alan in his drysuit, and me freezing straight away, as water seeped through my neck lining. We headed along the western side (boardwalk), towards Manly. There were plenty of swimmers swimming over head but not a lot of fish activity, as we searched under rocks and in weed beds.

As we arrived at a rocky/boulder section along the dive more and more fish were out and about. Towards the end of the dive Alan pointed into a crevasse and out popped a Giant Cuttlefish, camouflaging itself as best it could. We hung around and took and few photos and video of the colourful creature then decided it was time to head back. I wasn’t exactly warm at this point so we powered on home.

Big Boat Adventure

Sometime early last year I got contacted by Tim, a man with a vision to make a great Youtube show (hopefully to air at some stage) about the perfect boat. Shooting a variety of boats of all shapes and sizes for your every day person. The goal was to take the viewers on a journey of what the boats offer, what it’s like to live aboard the boats and costs associated with owning one.

We started off shooting the first episode which you can see here (as well as other episodes to date) up on the Central Coast of a lovely big Riviera. The first episode was always going to be tough as we all needed to get into a rhythm of what needed to be shot, how and timing of the whole shoot (basically the pilot episode). At the end of the day we got what we needed and it turned out alright but had some new ideas and improvements for the following episodes.

We then headed to Newcastle to shoot an even bigger Riviera, that was brand new and just motored into port on the journey to Sydney. Highlighting what the boat had to offer, we also shot a cooking segment (who doesn’t like food), which allowed the viewers a more intimate look at what the kitchen space had to offer. It also allows the video to be broken up for a more enjoyable experience.

We’ll have more boats with more adventures in the future so stay tuned to The Big Boat Show Channel on Youtube. If you or know of someone who would be willing to shoot on their boat, get in contact and let us know.

2020 Winter Swell

A few weeks ago, one of the biggest swells of the season hit the East Coast of Australia. All along the coast there were some epic breaks going off, with one of the local breaking bigger than i’ve ever witnessed. With huge crowds about trying to get a piece of the action, I thought i’d head down and see what sort of carnage was going on.

Mangusta 105'

The guys from Sydney Marine Brokerage wanted a video piece put together for the sale of this boat. A Mangusta 105 foot monster called Hells Bells. We headed out into Pittwater to get some video and stills while situated in a nice calm bay before heading down the harbour to get some cursing shots. The speed this thing can get up to is crazy for such a large boat (31 knots!). I’ve filmed and photographed boats before, but nothing quite like this beast. Sad to say, I don’t think i’ll be able to afford such a boat in my life time.

Meditation For Women

I recently received a call from the ladies who run Meditation for Women, a mediation program designed to fit anyone’s lifestyle with a relaxed, fun and inclusive vibe. They wanted a video to help show and explain what their course was about and who it’s for. I put together this video capturing both scenes from the beach and a studio where their courses are run.

Surf 2 Summit Media 2020 Showreel

So it’s been a while coming and finally we have a showreel! Have a watch of our 2020 Showreel and have a look at what we’ve been up to over the past couple of years. We’ve worked with some great clients in some amazing locations around Australia. From aerial filming to underwater we do it all.

Riviera Australia

Two recent cover shots for Riviera Australia.

Manly's Underwater Sea Life

For the many years I’ve been living on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, I’ve always been fascinated by what the area has in terms of underwater sea life. On all the rocky outcrops and headlands up and down the beaches there is a huge variety of life underneath ranging from small reef fish, rays, sharks and giant cuttle fish.

I’ll be a little bias when i say that Freshwater and Shelly Beach are my top picks as they’re so easily accessible for me, but i find these two locations are pretty hard to beat.

Over the past couple of years i have had the opportunity to take my cameras down with dive housings to be able to film what goes on under the surface. Below is just a sample piece I’ve put together from many adventures.

Enhancing your climbing performance with Climbfit

Over the past few months, i've been working with Sam Higham from Climbfit, an indoor rock climbing gym, on a series of training videos, to allow people to improve their climbing performance.

Each video consisted of 2-3 minutes of step by step instructions on how to help strengthen and train different muscle groups of your body for different climbing applications.

Whether you're old, young, fit or unfit there's always a way to improve your performance.

Climbfit will be releasing more training and instructional videos in the future, so give them a follow on their Facebook page.

www.climbfit.com.au

Fijian Islands

I recently had the opportunity to film on a reef off the islands of Fiji this week in between shoots.

The waters were amazingly clear with a huge amount of sea-life. Some of the drop offs of the reef as you looked over went into this crazy deep blue. Unfortunately no bigger animals wanted to swim past that day. Maybe next time.

Can not wait to get back at some point to have an opportunity to film a reef system like this again.

Victorian High Country

Back in March this year we took a trip down to the Victorian High Country to check out what tracks Victoria had to offer for some 4wd touring. Check out the video highlights from our trip. With a few broken parts and a car stuck in Victoria for two weeks, everyone made it back safe and sound.

Purebred Fitness

A few months ago Pat from Purebred Fitness asked me to come down to there gym to film and make an edit to promote their new gym. They wanted something that showcased their facilities and classes. The trainers at gym certainly put their clients through their paces on this day!

The team at Purebred Fitness

Great White in Cabbage Tree Bay Rockpool, Manly

About 2 weeks ago a juvenile Great White beached itself on Manly beach to the surprise of some local beach goers. A local man tried to drag it back into the water but unfortunately the shark did not want to go back out and beach itself again.

Local staff from the Manly Sea Sanctuary were called into the move the shark to a safer location to observe it and try and keep it alive. They moved it to the near by Cabbage Tree Bay Rockpool, where people were asked to leave the pool so that the shark could be placed in.

After hearing about the news on social media, i thought i'd head down to try and get some pictures of this rare moment. Originally i thought it was a Mako, as described on social media, but as i rocked up to my surprise, it turned out to be a 1.8m juvenile great white. I would have loved to get in with it but i thought i would let the professionals do their job.

After many hours of the shark being observed, the staff from Manly Sea Life Sanctuary decided to take it back to their location for further observation.

After a night at the sanctuary the staff took the young shark 4km out to sea for release.