Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve outside of Hobart is a fantastic sunset photography location. It is a place that, when I first visited in 2015, I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Having been back a few times now, I continue to enjoy and look forward to visiting this spot with my camera.

Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve is a peaceful and simple location in that a long wooden fence leads out into the bay’s shallow water. It is this wooden fence that will be the main focal point of your photos.

The fence was constructed to divide the reserve into two areas and provide a secluded ‘shorebird breeding area’ along a narrow stretch of sand. However, this long grey weathered fence offers a terrific and unique leading line that appears to stretch out to meet the horizon.

The other feature is that Mortimer Bay is quite shallow, where the fence is situated. This allows you to see and even capture the beautiful clear water and white pebbles, small seashells and rocks beneath its surface. On a day when the water is calm, the water’s surface creates glass-like reflections, which adds another exciting opportunity for us landscape photographers.

Combine these features with the setting sun, which should set in front of you, and the surrounding mountains and hills, which include Hobart’s iconic Mount Wellington, and you have the recipe for an incredible sunset photography location.

I am hoping to capture a fiery sunset from Mortimer Bay sometime soon. That would be awesome! 😃

Photographing through the trees at Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve

I have enjoyed moving back from the beach and walking among the large pine trees at Mortimer Bay Reserve, looking for interesting compositions. You can incorporate the large rugged tree trunks into your photos of the long wooden fence in the bay’s shallow waters. (HDR image, Nikon D750, 19mm | July 2023 | Sunset)

How to Photography Mortimer Bay Reserve

During the times I visited Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve, there were two main areas in which I looked to capture photos from.

They are;

Along the shoreline

The most obvious place to set up your tripod and camera is along the shoreline. From here, you can capture the beautiful features of Mortimer Bay in the long weathered fence, white pebbles and stunning reflections. There is also something quite clean about taking photos here: it is uninterrupted and quite white and blue in appearance. It’s nice. 🙂

You can either set your tripod up back from the water’s edge to include the coarse texture of the sand and then into the shallow water and beyond. Or, take off your socks and shoes and actually set your tripod up in the water. Dipping your toe in will hopefully make the initial area beneath the water’s surface visible and show all of the exquisite details that can be captured in your images.

Remember: Due to the shorebird breeding area, you are not allowed on the beach to the left-hand side of the fence.

In and amongst the treeline

If a nice sunset doesn’t eventuate, or you are looking for other compositions, I have enjoyed hunting around the treeline for nice images. It’s fun to find different ways to frame the fence using the trunks and branches of the massive trees which run along the perimeter of the beach.

Photographing an Aurora Australis

I have seen several photos of the Aurora Australis taken from Mortimer Bay Reserve. However, I have yet to try this and have only photographed an Aurora once at the time of writing this. So, I can’t speak to how good of a photography location it is for photographing an Aurora Australis. That said, the images I have seen online look stunning!

Travelling to Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve

Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve is located in a suburb called Sandford, an easy 35-minute drive from Hobart. Upon arriving, there is a small dirt car park where you can leave your car. To locate the long wooden fence, it is a short 5-minute walk along the trail to the right of the car park, and you will spy it to your left through the trees.

I found you need to be exact when putting ‘Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve’, or even ‘Mortimer Bay Reserve’, into Google to bring up directions. On a recent trip, I entered ‘Mortimer Bay’, and it ended up navigating me to the very top of the bay. This wasn’t a big deal and could have potentially been a one-off. I hoped back in the car, included ‘reserve’ into Google and had no problems with the directions it provided.

Just something to be mindful of if you get out of your car and can’t see that long wooden fence anywhere. It’s a big bay, and I think it was an 8-minute drive over to where I wanted to be.

Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve at sunset

Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve is such a pristine and tranquil photography location. Between capturing photos, it’s nice to breathe deeply and simply enjoy being outdoors with your camera! (HDR image, Nikon D750, 16mm | March 2015 | Sunset)

My final thoughts

Mortimer Bay is fantastic for landscape photographers looking for a great sunset photography location in the Hobart area. Out of 10, I rate Mortimer Bay an 8 as a landscape photography location.

I will be living in the Hobart area for the second part of 2023, and I can see Mortimer Bay Coastal Reserve becoming my go-to sunset photography location. Hopefully, given time, I can capture that incredible sunset with the glass-like reflections I described earlier.

Fingers crossed! 🤞

I hope this photography location review of Mortimer Bay Reserve has been helpful.

Happy Snapping!
Rob Potter