It’s picture perfect for Jeff
HIGH- FLYING Barwon Heads photographer Jeff Brooks snaps some of the best pictures in town.
With 36 years’ experience in the air, the pilot has gloriously combined his love of flying and photography.
“Geelong and the Bellarine and Surf Coast offers a rich environment of scenery, which looks fantastic from the air,” Mr Brooks said. “Most people don’t appreciate what it has to offer until they see it.”
One of the hardest parts of the aerial photography is being at the mercy of seasons and weather.
“There are plenty of sites that you can only photograph for a couple of weeks out of a year because of how the sun rises,” Mr Brooks said.
“You can have a couple of bad days of weather and you’ve missed your chance to shoot for another year.”
One of Mr Brooks’s favourite photographs — the reflection of cloud on the Barwon River — took hundreds of attempts to nail.
“The sun was actually below the horizon at that time, so that shot only worked because there were no disturbances in the high cloud or on the water surface to stop the sunlight bouncing from the cloud to the river and into my camera lens.
“I also only had about 20 seconds to take the picture as we flew above it.”
Mr Brooks is the owner of Great Ocean Air, which operates from Barwon Heads airport and offers private chartered flights.
His photography is available to view online.