2014 moments #9

I would like to share my 10 most memorable photographs of the past year over the coming days with you. These are shots that I am particularly proud of, while each evokes a sense of place and meaning from 2014.

Freers bliss

FREERS BLISS

A perfectly lonely beach where the light blue water matches the cyan of a clear early autumn sky. This is Freers on the coast of Tasmania, Australia’s beautiful island state. It’s a picture of natural solitude, broken only by the scuttling of hundreds of sand crabs nearby. And it’s just one image of many contenders from a memorable journey around a small part of the other end of the Earth.

The Photo Shop

Little Australia

This island state sitting at the foot of vast Australia has a charm and mood all of its own – at times familiar to this Briton who took a road trip there recently. We took in main cities Hobart and Launceston, the stunning east coast and the changing character of its north side and interior.

If you’re tempted to go to Tasmania armed with your camera, here are a few reasons to go south…

  • Its coastal landscape is second to none, including gold and orange rocks
  • If you’re lucky with the weather, the sky is an amazing azure, thanks to a lack of European pollution
  • The towns and cities have a beguiling mix of colonial and contemporary architecture – and unique charm
  • Its clarity is great for night photography – and a chance to catch the Southern Lights

Click first image for full gallery experience

Velvet sheen - clean (2)

Southerly seaside

Anchored shellAustralia’s island state of Tasmania sits to the south of that vast land mass, a hour’s hop by plane from Melbourne.

Tassie is about the size of Scotland or West Virginia, and packs in an awful lot of coastline. We drove from the coastal capital of Hobart up the east coast, passing through seaside towns with familiar names like Swansea to the ochre rocks of Bicheno.

Our travels also took us to the north, stopping at Beauty Point and stunning Freers Beach at Port Sorrel. The tide was out and there wasn’t another soul there – apart from hundreds of sand crabs scuttling around.

The towns are comfortingly sleepy and old-fashioned, while the coastline is beautiful, especially under a cobalt blue autumn sky. If you’re going to Tasmania, don’t stray far from the seaside.

Velvet sheen - clean (2)

Click first image to launch the gallery

Hobart craft