Located two hours' drive south of Brisbane, Byron Bay, or Byron, has established a reputation as an enclave for the hip and trendy. With flat sandy beaches, great surf and a prominent headland, it is hard not to see the appeal. It is also a good destination for landscape and wildlife photography, and I managed to visit for a few days in May. Here is a brief summary of that trip and some of the highlights.

All of the images shown below were captured on a Hasselblad X2D 100c using a 25mm f/2.5 lens and a Leica M11 coupled with a 35mm f/1.4 lens.

A visit to Byron is not complete without a walk up to the historic Cape Byron lighthouse. Set prominently on the headland and originally built in 1901, the lighthouse and its surrounding grounds offer spectacular views across Tallow Beach to the south and Wategos Beach to the north. It is also the most easterly point on mainland Australia, making it ideal for landscape photography, and in particular, sunrise landscape photography. Finding the lighthouse is easy, just follow the signs from the Byron Bay town center.

There are several parking areas around the lighthouse. The main parking area at the top is only open during staffed visitor hours, so dawn visitors will need to park at the bottom of the headlands and walk up to the lighthouse. Just remember to pay your parking fee. You will get fined if you do not pay.

There are plenty of ways to photograph the lighthouse. All you need is a lens in the 24-35mm range (and by all means, don't take this as excluding use of any lens in the wide angle or telephoto range). You do not really need to use a tripod, although is chose to make use of one so I could use neutral density filters to create longer exposures and blur out the other visitors.

I visited the lighthouse on two occasions during my trip, once during sunrise and once during sunset. Sunrise was my pick of the times as it allowed me capture both the lighthouse and the rising sun in a single fame. Late afternoon was also quite good, particularly when there was good cloud in the background, but as can be expected, the visitor numbers were at their peak.

So how would I rate the lighthouse? It is a great spot, but it is one of those locations that everyone has visited, and as a result, it can feel cliche.

Little Wategos and Wategos Beach are on the same Cape Byron circuit as the lighthouse. If you visit the lighthouse, Little Wategos is just 5-10 minutes' walk down the hill. Being close to the lighthouse, I also visited Litte Wategos twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Little Wategos Beach is quite scenic. To the north and east are some very scenic bays, with rocky outcrops featuring slate grey and sandstone orange rocks. With the weather being less than ideal and a good swell, I spent most of my time photographing these bays. I found there were some photographs to be had getting down and amongst the rocks with a 35mm lens. I was also lucky to be treated on the second day to a spectacularly pink and cloudy sunset. Just as a tip if you choose to visit, watch out on the rocks. They are very sharp and are slippery in the wet. The three images below show some of what can be found at Little Wategos and Wategos Beach.

Once you are done photographing the coastline, there are also plenty of opportunities to photograph birds amongst the headland vegetation. When I visited the trees were full of lorikeets and honeyeaters going about their business. If the weather had been better, I am sure I also would have seen a few more dolphins around the bay.

Located 45 minutes south of Byron in the hinterland, Killen Falls was a pleasant surprise and nice break away from the busy Byron Bay township.

It only takes 15 minutes to walk to the base of Killen Falls from the car park. The last section of the track is steep, but once you reach the bottom, you can walk up along the creek to the falls and the rock overhang. If you are inclined, you can also walk behind the waterfall.

I found Killen Falls to be very pretty, but challenging to photograph in the wet conditions that I had during my visit. Unless you choose to stand in the creek, there is only a narrow and slippery embankment to work from. So instead of opting for the usual leading line compositions, I used some trees and gnarly branches to frame the waterfall. I also opted for more handholding of the camera than I normally would do. It was just too difficult to set up a tripod. One thing which I didn't do, and I would recommend when you visit, is packing a super wide angle (14mm or greater). The amphitheater and overhang of the falls would have been well suited to a wide-angle composition.

So how does Killen Falls rate as a photography destination? It is a location well worth a visit on a rainy or overcast day when a visit to the beach at Byron is not an option. If you simply love visiting and photographing waterfalls, you don't need to wait for that excuse.

I enjoyed Byron Bay. It was a pleasant few days away and a chance to experience something new along the east coast of Australia. It gets my vote for being readily accessible and easy to photograph.

Let me know if you have had a similar experience. I would love to hear.

Cheers,

Russell