Sunderland Bay is a small cove along the southern coastline of Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia. Unlike most of the other bays and coves along this stretch of land, hordes of tourists do not visit Sunderland Bay, and you can often spend hours there without seeing another person.

On this day, I arrived in the early hours of the morning. The sky was almost clear, and the stars were sparkling. I spent many hours exploring the area through my lens. From Astro to sunrise, I was very focused on the sea stack, mostly using swirling water as my foreground. These images were good, but it wasn't until I took a coffee break and a bite to eat that I stepped back and began to view the bay as a whole. This was also about the same time that the sun finally rose above the eastern cliffs and lit up the red rocks in all their glory.

Excited by what I was seeing, I moved further up the rocky beach so I could capture the contrast of light that was now so obvious.

Looking for layers of foreground, subject and background, I settled on this composition. Once I had captured it to my liking, I packed up and headed home.

I often find that my best photos are only taken once I have immersed myself in the environment for an extended period of time. Sometimes, this can take multiple visits, and sometimes, like on this shoot, just a few hours.