Sleepy Bay is one of my favourite locations on the East Coast of Tasmania. Situated in the magnificent Freycinet National Park, it boasts stunning turqouise waters and orange lichen covered rocks. It might not be as famous as it's close neighbour Wine Glass Bay but personally I think it's just as beautiful.

In September of 2021 I was called in to cover a couple of our 5 day Tasmania photography tours for our lead tour instructor Jason. He was unfortunately stuck in a Victorian lockdown. It was nice to get back to Tasmania for the first time in many years and thankfully both our groups experienced amazing conditions, with all participants capturing some truly amazing photos.

After completing the 2 tours, I spent another week exploring the island and capturing some new photos for my own collection.

This particular morning I was undecided on where to shoot. I woke quite early and drove down to Sleepy Bay to see how it was looking. Unfortunately the sky was mainly clear and there was a huge swell pushing big waves into the bay so I decided to keep driving. I continued along the road towards Bluestone Bay but as I got closer to Cape Tourville I could see there were more clouds moving quickly towards Sleepy Bay. I made the hasty decision to turn around and head back to the bay.

On my arrival I grabbed my camera gear and raced off down the walking track. I had a composition in my mind from many previous visits but when I arrived at my target location I was dissapointed to see that the huge swell was making it impossible to access. I setup my gear anyway and started playing around with a different composition on a rock ledge. Some nice cloud cover had rolled in and the sunrise had begun. The sky was looking beautiful.

Suddenly a huge set of waves rolled into the bay. As the first one hit it threatened to knock me and the camera off the ledge. I resisted the urge to grab my gear and run for cover, instead pressing the shutter button just as the first wave hit. This was the result!