Jade Water and Amber Sand

Description

I launched my drone with a singular purpose, to capture video footage of the sleek new Coast building rising over Garfield Terrace. Its glass exterior promised striking reflections, and I’d envisioned cinematic flyovers, parallax shots, and orbiting views worthy of a property developer’s highlight reel.

But it didn’t go to plan.

Even with careful framing and smooth tracking, something felt… flat. The light bounced awkwardly off the structure. The angles were uninspiring. Despite its architectural grandeur, the building seemed to shrink on camera, lost in the scale of its surroundings.

Frustrated but not defeated, I made a decision: switch to still photo mode. I climbed higher, letting the drone hover in silence. And that’s when the magic unfolded.

From 120 meters up, I saw it.

A top-down view revealed ribbons of amber sand melting into jade water, vivid, textured, impossibly beautiful. The contrast was hypnotic. The Gold Coast shoreline curved like a painter’s brushstroke, every grain and ripple preserved in crisp, geometric clarity. I snapped frame after frame.

Then I panned the gimbal upward and rotated to capture a full panoramic sweep, from the striking edges of Jewel, past the rolling dunes toward Burleigh, and all the way to the iconic rise of Q1 and Main Beach’s coastal arc. The winter air was clear and sharp. The sky, a flawless vault of blue.

No wind. No haze. Just perfection on a winter’s day.

What started as a focused mission to document modern design turned into something far greater, a reminder that sometimes, when you stop chasing the shot you want, you make room for the image you never expected.