John Clarke, Beautiful Sydney Harbour (LANDSCAPE 2022)

I flew down from Brisbane for Vivid 2022 for a long weekend. I took advantage of every moment of my time in arguably the most beautiful harbour city in the world. Using Nikon kit with Lee Filters, all my images were long exposures. In a short period, I would have to say I won the lottery in the best light for such a short period of time that I have ever observed in my career. Image 1 – Opera House from the Sydney Harbour Bridge When I first started watching the light displays on the Sydney Opera House sails, I loved the beautiful patterns and colours, and it reminded me of when I was younger when I obsessed over a t-shirt I used to wear with an aboriginal design. I have always loved the pattern and colours our indigenous landowners have produced. The presentation on the sails on the Opera House for Vivid 2022 is a result of 8 remarkable internationally acclaimed women artists from Martumili from East Pilbara, Western Australia. Originally created by Yarrkalpa – Hunting Ground based on a 5 * 3-meter acrylic work. The original work describes the knowledge of the land and how to care for it. Technically, this image is made up of multiple images. The boat trails are from long exposures. The Opera House is made of an image that was constantly changing, and I wanted to provide a clear image with respect to the original artists, so it was a short exposure. Image 2 – Sunrise of the Sydney Opera House I have travelled the world photographing and have to say I have never observed the most amazing sunset. I got up that morning and actually got two amazing sunrise images, the second 40 minutes later than expected sunrise time. The first, which I have to say was a little lucky is shared here. I got to site, understanding the lighting and sunrise and realised that when on site, I was nearly one hour earlier. I sat in darkness for a while in Circular Quay and looked up and noticed the cloud shape. I set up my kit as an emergency and observed this amazing sunrise. The water looks like blood, like a biblical disaster. So lucky. Image 3 – Sydney Harbour Bridge Growing up originally in Sydney as a child, Luna Park was one of my favourite experiences. Capturing Circular Quay, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Luna Park with boat trails during the long exposure was lots of fun. This was my favourite of many. This was a composite image that included clear bridge graphics and long exposures of boat trails. Image 4 – The Harbour View Well, I got drenched with this long exposure, myself and kit (all over my filters and camera). I could picture the image and stubbornly stayed in the same position to produce a wonderful sunset of the Sydney Opera House and Bridge. One of my favourite all-time images.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.