About

Every beach here is one I have actually stood on

I'm Matthew Philip, an aerial photographer based on the Gold Coast. I have been flying drones since 2018, and every image on this site is a beach I have personally visited, launched from and flown.

That matters more than it sounds. Most beach wall art sold online is stock imagery, licensed from a library by someone who has never been there. Mine is not. If there is a print of Lucky Bay on this site, I drove to Lucky Bay, waited for the light and put the drone up.

Why shoot from above

A beach photographed from the sand is a beach. The same beach from 100 metres up is something else entirely: sandbars fanning out under the surface, the exact line where turquoise gives way to navy, surfers spread across a set like markings on a page. You cannot see any of it standing on the shore, and that is the whole reason I fly.

It is also why the panoramic sizes work as well as they do. A lineup at Trigg or the long sweep of Salmon Bay naturally fills a wide frame in a way a standard crop cannot.

Where I shoot

The bulk of the collection is Western Australia. Perth's city beaches, Cottesloe, Scarborough, Trigg and Mullaloo, then out to Rottnest Island, down through the South West around Dunsborough, Bunker Bay and Margaret River, and along the south coast to Albany and Denmark and out to Esperance.

Beyond WA there is New South Wales, mostly Sydney's eastern beaches and the ocean pools that define swimming culture there, and New Zealand around Mount Maunganui and the Bay of Islands.

You can see the full range in Western Australia beach art or browse the best sellers if you want a starting point.

The kit

I have shot this collection on DJI drones, starting with a Mini 3 Pro and moving through a Mini 4 Pro and a Mavic 3 Pro as the cameras improved. [VERIFY: current drone model, so this stays accurate]

Most of what separates a usable frame from a wasted flight happens before the drone leaves the ground: shooting flat so there is room to grade, ND filters so the shutter sits where it should, and going out at the right time of day rather than the convenient one. I have written most of this up in the blog if you fly yourself.

The prints

Every image is available as a fine art paper print or as canvas, with black, white and oak framing, across a full range of sizes including panoramic. Shipping is free.

[ADD: where the prints are produced, the paper or canvas stock used, and the expected lifespan. This is the single most common question buyers have before spending on wall art, and answering it here will convert better than anything else on this page.]

[ADD: your returns or satisfaction guarantee in one sentence, even though it is in the footer policy. Buyers want to see it stated in your own words.]

Get in touch

If you want a specific beach, a custom size, or you are after something for a commercial space, get in touch. I take requests, and if it is somewhere I have not flown yet, it may well end up in the collection.