All the Beaches and Bays I regularly photograph in Sydney!
Here is a list of the places I’ve been photographing in Sydney! We are incredibly fortunate to have some of the world's most beautiful beaches and bays. From beautiful Balmoral to scenic Little Bay, I’m a beach kid at heart, and there is no place I feel more at peace. I love a good drive, and none of these places are particularly secret except the first and last. It is important to note that none of the information I share here will matter unless you master how to get the best result from these locations. Some I would never shoot, others are unusable in the afternoon. I’ll share some tips here, but a select few will only make it to my mailing list (which you can sign up for at the bottom)!
There are many important factors here, like sun direction, crowds, and parking, that I haven’t listed, but they are things you should scope out before you shoot them.
I’ve decided to share more openly rather than guarding these closely kept secrets because it will force me to be a better photographer; I think many of us get caught up in needing to be the only person in the know. This is an attitude I’m familiar with, having been an insider at many stages of my career. Still, for the most part, I am an outsider looking in. I am a third-generation photographer. However, despite my informal training in a studio my father owned, I don’t have a functional relationship with my family. I ran a popular agency that fell apart, leaving me with a large amount of debt. Still, that experience allowed me to work with some of the biggest bands in the world, like Coldplay and Kings Of Leon, and work for brands including Spotify and Google; I was sent to New York by Vice Magazine.
I’ve been very fortunate, but my success has been patchy. Rather than working on my strengths, I’ve spent much of my time trying to improve on things I am not good at. Without access to strong financials, studio space, or beautiful indoor houses, I chose the beach, leaning into a part of the work I had complete control over:
Research.
This list is something I would save, read, reread and then think about. Download and pay for Photopills, look at what the light is doing during the day, go and walk around these locations for yourself, and spend time immersed in what you’re trying to create. If you want to be an image maker, you must spend time planning your creations.
This guide is a culmination of the last few years of getting good at the niche I enjoy, the beach lifestyle, and these are some of my favourite locations based on the 50,000 film photos I have taken since 2020.
Site scouting or a Recce is essential for getting the best results. I’m fortunate to know how the sun moves well enough. I have done enough photoshoots. I can often pull off a shoot without checking the environment first, but as many models will tell you, I’ve also made the mistake of not studying.
Tide times, cloud cover, wind, temperature, topography, and aspect are all crucial factors in picking a location that will work well for you. These are all factors you should consider if you want to get a great result from your shoot.
If this list helps you out, you can buy me a roll of film here:
Hornby Lighthouse — Sydney’s East
We’ll start off strong with one of my hidden gems, Hornby Lighthouse has a path beneath it to a hidden beach, where it feels like someone may live. On the path near the lighthouse, you’ll see a beach beneath the cliff. There are a few well-worn paths down to it, but you do need to be careful. This is a beach where you need to monitor the tide times, as it can be very dangerous, but you’ll find it very secluded with the occasional fisherman. It’s the most northern point of the south head of Sydney Harbour and is spectacular at both sunrise and sunset.
Maroubra — Sydney’s South
This spot was rinsed by me in 2022, it’s a beautiful spot on the south end with the rock pools, and green bushy paths. It’s relatively quiet and secluded down here, and the light is manageable all day due to the aspect of the beach. I’ll continue to come here, over and over, specially with newer models because the way the light falls is very forgiving and there are so many beautiful little spots that feel tropical to work with. Positioned right, your shots won’t feel like you’re in Sydney.
Turimetta Beach — Sydney’s North
My dear friend and long-time collaborator Bella Salerno showed me Turimetta originally several years ago. It’s a spot I’m enamoured by, and I have come back here a lot. I love it for a few reasons: one; it’s quite secluded and private; two, there’s free parking; three, it’s a dog beach, so you’ll often have a dog or two come up for a pat. It’s a dangerous surf break with a lot of shore breakers, so it’s not somewhere you can ask your models to jump in the water, but Warriewood is just down the road, and on shoots like this one with Kushi Leggo from Scoop, you can drive less than six minutes to a beach safe to swim at. Most recently, I took Genny Shawcross there for a morning shoot, and it delivered a spectacular sunrise.
Warriewood Beach — Sydney’s North
Turimetta being unsafe to go swimming at makes jumping over to Warriewood the choice for those in the water shots, it’s a patrolled beach, and the break is a lot calmer than Turimetta, although there tends to be more crowds, and the parking is often busy and expensive, unless you park above the beach, but when you have cameras, and props to carry, it’s not a particularly pleasant walk.
Castle Rock Beach — Sydney’s North
I love Castle Rock; it’s a tricky spot to capture because the sun carves right through it, and you need to pick your timing to get the light to cooperate, it can be shot in the morning, but you’ll need to watch when you do shoot it, as often the sun doesn’t hit till quite late in the morning. My recent shoots with Emma Hedley, Hana Sezer, and Luca Saunders showcase how incredible this spot is to shoot at. There are a lot of man-made features that are fun to play with, as walkways cut all along the rocky cliffs and light moves beautifully between the branches to create incredible moments. The water is fantastic, too; inside the harbour, it’s a very safe spot to swim, and in winter, it’s still a pretty comfortable shot to shoot most days as there’s protection from a lot of wind. Making sure your models are comfortable is an essential component.
Clontarf — Sydney’s North
A beach so close to Castle Rock I often forget about is Clontarf; it’s usually a little more forgiving to shoot. The sun’s ever-changing positioning can make Castle Rock a difficult place to shoot, depending on the time of year. Clontarf is well protected from the wind, and the sun sets directly behind the beach, which makes the sunsets quite idyllic. It’s also quiet, with plenty of parking. I haven’t shot here much; I’ve been here only three times, but the photographs I took in the middle of winter are why I’m sharing this. It isn’t a pleasant experience for a model to shoot in swimwear in the water when you’re freezing your butt off. I tend to dial back on these sorts of shoots in the colder months, and Dominique Elissa was keen and worried the wind chill would make this a challenging shoot. Clontarf was very pleasant, and the sailing boats in the background made it a fantastic breezy summer-styled shoot without the frostbite.
Little Bay — Sydney’s South
Looking back at my photos, I think I’ve shot here more than anywhere else, and I am still not sick of it, this beach is beautiful, well protected, accessible, quiet, and the sunrises are spectacular and the sunsets are calm, peaceful things. I can’t stop going back here, I get sick of this spot every once in a while, but it’s somewhere I hold close to me. You’ll see many of my best photos in the gallery above are here. There are those tiny shells, fish, rockpools, rocks, and the golfcourse above means there’s a nice amount of greenery.
La Perouse / Yarra Bay — Sydney’s South
A twelve-minute drive from Little Bay, often when the wind kicks up I’ll head to La Perouse, or what’s called Yarra Bay right at the far end, there’s usually parking here, and sometimes a jetski or two. The sun set is a little lower at La Perouse, so it’s a great spot to end on if the wind isn’t hitting the beach, the sand is incredibly white, especially compared to all the other locations I’ve listed here, but lately, I’ve found the sand has been quite dirty with pollution making a mess of the beach. I’ve had a lot of luck at sunset, but the sun doesn’t rise over the horizon, so it’s not a pretty spot for sunrise.
Balmoral Beach — Sydney’s North
An iconic bay beach in Sydney Harbour, close to where I live, makes it an easy spot in the morning; when the water is clear, it makes for those perfect beach swimming shots. It does get quite crowded, so it is usually best in the early morning; the south end banks enough light, but like most beaches on the East coast, the light sets quite early as the sun is cut by the high hills. It is a long beach with a lot of scenic spots to use. It takes a bit of practice to find the most out of Balmoral, but it’s an easy spot to revisit as there are so many little parts that make it work for a variety of different beach shoot contexts, some places feel like a tropical getaway, others feel like a crowded tourist destination, and both work for various reasons depending on your vision.
Chinamans Beach — Sydney’s North
Just down the road from Balmoral is another scenic little spot that doesn’t feel very Sydney. Chinaman’s beach is Balmorals little brother, and is a beautiful spot to shoot within the northern part of the harbour. There are some very idyllic houses on the water, and enough beach to make use of, best in the morning due to the steep hills surrounding it, that block in most of the afternoon light.
Little Manly (Shelly Beach) — Sydney’s North
This is a tricky spot to shoot; at sunrise, the lights are very flat for the first hour, and it’s often quite busy for sunset. Depending on the time of year, the sun jumps behind the tall apartment blocks the beach faces, reducing the light very quickly; it’s pretty sheltered, and everyone loves it, especially for snorkelling. It’s a hard one to shoot, I’ve tried around five times, and only two shoots have I been happy with the result. So I say be careful with this spot. There are a lot of other beautiful beaches quite close, including Collins Flat, which I prefer in many ways, but when you can make this spot work for you, it looks gorgeous!
Coogee — Sydney’s East
A well-known tourist trap, with it’s elegant ocean pool with a white picket fence, it makes for a great location to watch the sunrise and get your sunrise Instagram pic. I remember seeing Brydie Mack’s photos here (also known on Instagram as WolfcubWolfcub) back when we shared the same management blogging management and remembering how stunning and elegant they looked. I’m rather introverted, and I think you need to be quite bold with your placement, so it’s not a spot I have enjoyed shooting, especially not during the peak of summer, but a few of my favourite shots have been there, including this stunning one with my dear friend Connie Ou. It’s not a spot I would shoot in the afternoon as the light will cut along the cliffs, not providing much shape, but it’s perfect at sunrise; but check in with your talent; it’s a pretty awkward feeling getting stared at, and don’t be surprised if someone films you, to either turn you into a meme on Boyfriends of Instagram or because they’re just being creepy; this is one of those disadvantages of these popular spots.
Voodoo Point — Sydney’s South
I had reservations about sharing this spot… It’s my favourite secret. I’ve not told too many people about it, but it’s the one everyone wants me to reveal. It’s where I shot Ella Cervetto. There are a few reasons I didn’t want to share. I think it’s unique and beautiful, and I like that it’s always quiet and private. It has one of the best aspects for sunset shoots in Sydney, as the sun sets late and over the horizon of the water for a large portion of the year. I had a change of heart as I’ve been reading Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed; gatekeeping often slows us down; it doesn’t allow us to improve or grow as creatives, as we are holding onto things we’ve learnt, and whilst this spot was not an easy find, I’m not the first to, and won’t be the last. Voodoo Point is north of Cronulla Beach, and before Kurnell, it involves driving down a Potter Point Vehicle trail, which, might I add, gets locked at around 7 pm; Abyss Scuba Diving has a little more info on reaching the point here.
There are a few things to keep in mind this place is fucking dangerous; I don’t say that lightly; you need to be aware of the tide times, it is a reef break, and those tiny shells are there because they have been washed in by the waves, and crushing into pieces by the rocks, your bones could be broken into tiny pieces in a similar fashion, it is deadly to be swept over here. Tide times are one of the things a swim photographer should track and be aware of. On a few occasions, it’s caused me injury, and that’s because, in those moments, I did not respect the beach. Be safe, be intelligent, don’t do something stupid, especially if you’re not a strong swimmer.
Again, if this list helped you out, and you want to shout me a roll of film, you can do so here:
