One of the smallest days of the year. Not always a bad thing. Photo: Ben Lee This day was crazy offshore winds and dust storms. I took this before we drove 25 hours home. Photo: Ben Lee It was like this for 5 hours with just myself and two friends out. Photo: Ben Lee After driving 30 hours straight we arrived to a sunset like this. It was worth it. Photo: Ben Lee It’s always hard to wake up early enough to see this down there. The winter chill makes leaving your swag before sunrise a tough proposition. Photo: Ben Lee My first morning ever in South Australia. We scaled down some cliffs to be greeted by these for 4 hours. Photo: Ben Lee A different view of one of my favorite spots in the desert. Photo: Ben Lee This wave has always intrigued me from a distance. A few months ago I finally made the trek down to it on first light to see what it was all about. Photo: Ben Lee A now well documented wave and my good friend Jimmy’s van. He is spending 2013 traveling Australia and awakening to views like this. Photo: Ben Lee The locals nickname this spot Hospitals. It isn’t anywhere near as friendly as it looks. Photo: Ben Lee The new “spot to be” down in this area. Photos without a bunch of jetskis circling will now probably be rare. Photo: Ben Lee A solid swell, sunset and offshores winds. This was a great day. Photo: Ben Lee A different view of “hospitals”. This day we had our windows waxed by friendly locals. Photo: Ben Lee This day was part of a month long journey across Australia. Photo: Ben Lee The waves aren't always friendly down this way. Raw ocean swell in the late afternoon. Photo: Ben Lee There are not many waves as good as this that can be seen from such a close distance from land. Photo: Ben Lee To surf this wave you have to scale down a great cliff face and paddle out through one of the trickiest key holes I’ve experienced. It’s usually worth it. Photo: Ben Lee The new big wave spot in Australia. Photo: Ben Lee Another sunrise photo at a usually empty wave. Photo: Ben Lee The water down this way is sometimes too blue. Its hard to accurately capture what your eye is seeing. First world problems. Photo: Ben Lee
Ben Lee.
South Australia is one of my favorite places in the world for waves. It’s raw, isolated and uncrowded. I’m a photographer from Queensland, Australia, where I was raised in a competitive swimming environment, with a love for the ocean and surfing, so it was probably inevitable that my attention would one day turn to capturing the beauty seen in the ocean. That started eight years ago and in that time, my passion has only increased. My desire to capture some of the world’s best surfers and bodyboarders for leading magazines has slowly shifted towards focusing more on capturing the ocean and light in its many different forms of beauty.
For more amazing photography, check out Ben’s Instagram.
