Bribie Island Pelicans

A quick back story. Mental health is always a taboo subject and something I would have been reluctant to share about in the past. But I hope by sharing I may be able to help out someone else. Around the middle of 2023 I hit a massive low point that was due to some circumstances and actions of others that were out of my control. The result was an extended period of really bad anxiety, panic attacks and worst of all for myself, 30 days of insomnia. This particular period really impacted my physical health and left me in a position that I was sure I wouldn’t recover from. With the help and motivation of my amazing family (Ash, Emmy & Noah) I started to try and regain some clarity and look for ways to break the insomnia. I started to focus on reseting my body clock by watching the sun rise and set each day.

As my thoughts started to clear a little, I decided that I wanted to try and create something positive from this experience. I started to think of ideas of a body of work I could shoot to help me move past this moment in time. Unfortunately the surf around here isn’t very cooperative at the best of times, so that was out of the question. I knew I wanted to do something involving the water and something that would get me in the water (my happy place). It was around this time that the seasonal pelicans had started arriving back on the island and we started to see them on our afternoon walks around Buckleys Hole.

Buckleys Hole, Bribie Island

I had the thought that maybe I could attempt to shoot some pelican photos from the water. I knew that this task would most likely be more difficult than it seemed on first thought. I started to take my camera and a longer telephoto lens on the afternoon walks and started to test the water with the pelicans and see how they would react to me.

Pelican Buckleys Hole. 185mm Telephoto Lens

After a successful outing with the telephoto I decide to next try using a something a little bit wider and took my 24-70mm on our afternoon walk. Luckily at this time of year we are blessed with amazing afternoon sunsets and light, so timing of light wasn’t something I really had to worry about.

Pelicans Buckleys Hole. 41mm

With a bit of confidence behind me I figured it was time to start taking my water housing and attempting to swim with the pelicans. This is when things started to get a bit trickier. I would have afternoons where I would set up my water housing at home and then arrive at Buckleys Hole with no pelicans in sight. Frustration started to set in, but I was so determined to finish this project. I also had other occasions where I just couldn't get close enough to them with my 16-35mm to capture anything worth while. Finally on one afternoon I had some luck on blue hour. There was a group of pelicans and I wanted to try my best to get them all in focus, so I closed down my aperture and hoped for some Sony high ISO goodness. It didn't last long, and I didn’t get the opportunity for many photos, but for 5 mins it all came together for a photo that I’m pretty proud of. This photo actually recently made the final round of judging in The Nature Conservancy Global Photo Contest, which i’m pretty chuffed about as this is kind of my first attempt at anything like this.

Pelicans at Buckleys Hole, Bribie Island. 35mm focal length

Over the following month I continued to take photos of the pelicans whenever opportunity presented. On this particular afternoon a big storm started to role over the bay and created some dynamic scenes.

Seagull and Pelicans at Buckleys Hole

All of these photos are particularly special to me due to the significance of that period of time. They were a big part of a healing process for myself and helped me get back to a better headspace. I’m in a fair bit better place now, but the feeling from that period still feels very close and raw.

For anyone interested, all of the pelican photos can be ordered as framed prints by clicking here.

Thank you for the support!