Being persistent in your goals will help you grow mentality. In photography, you will be challenged regularly and must not give up on an idea you have envisioned. We must rely on luck at times that conditions will be good even though we have planned ahead of time. One major element can unravel all our planning, and that is cloud coverage.

To reach Sugarloaf Rock I flew 5 hours across the other side of Australia and drove 3 hours south. When I arrived there was an unbroken band of clouds lingering the coastline during the entire time of my stay. This was a constant battle I have become familiar with; however, I imagined beforehand at least one night would have clear skies and I’d be lucky. After a week I got unlucky.

A year goes by and I fly back over to attempt to photograph Sugarloaf Rock again. I was visiting my brother and had only allocated one night to attempt this as I had other places to explore on my road trip.

Once again, the conditions were rainy and cloudy but on the radar I could see a small break showing potential clear skies. I have been fooled many times before with a gap on the radar being incorrect or closing in by the time it reached me. With the bucketing rain I assumed I have been duped again but with persistence I waited it out.

After 2 hours, the rain had stopped and I was beginning to see stars twinkle in-between the clouds. I knew my persistence and patience had paid off and I was going to be able capture the panorama that’s been on my mind since last years experience.

I scrambled down the rocks into position and watched the skies clear with the Milky Way slowly revealing itself. I was ecstatic the conditions improved and I was able to capture this landscape after a long year and thousands of kilometres later.