Peter Ogden, Mona Vale Sunrise (Straight Shooter: Australian Landscape)

I was on my way to Mona Vale beach by 4:20am and soon there with one other person, a surfer, waiting for the light. I was testing the frame when a guy walked past me with a cheery good morning. This week has seen some big swells hit the beaches of the east coast and the pool was incredibly turbulent. Like a washing machine. But that didn’t deter him. He paused for a beat at the water’s edge to put his goggles on and in that instant I snapped off a frame. It wasn’t until the afternoon, in Lightroom, that I realised what I had captured. There’s nothing quite like that feeling of excitement when the pixels reveal something magical…

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