Gallery: Amazing images of Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, has increasingly become a brand: beers, television and real estate agents use it romantically.

The real Bondi can be hard to discover, but that has become the job of Aquabumps photographer Eugene Tan. 

His shots have sold Bondi to the world more than a real estate agent ever could. His photography website gets 40,000 visits a day. Seventy percent of customers who visit his beach-side gallery are from overseas.

“The first thing tourists do is come straight to Bondi Beach,” says Tan, who migrated from Perth 15 years ago. “When I started living in Bondi I was quite overwhelmed by it.”

“They love the beach, they love the light," he says. "The beach is the focus of so many things.”

Tan has only missed three sunrises in the last 12 years. And Tan’s focus: he has shot the Bondi sunrise every day for 12 years -- excepting three days due to illness.

“So many people ask me if I get bored doing it, but every day is so different. The surf, the light, the weather and the people -- there is always something new going on. There are so many rare moments.

"It is like meditation for me: time alone with just myself and the ocean.” 

In January 2004, Tan quit his job as a creative director with a web design company to focus completely on his own photography. 

Tan says the Aquabumps gallery business has been growing constantly, even in tough economic times. Which is a good testament to the popularity and appeal of his work.

Tan nominates his favorite photo as "Lone Swimmer," taken in March 2009 (above).

“I remember it so well. I was up in the helicopter shooting and it was a really busy day.

"But there was this girl just swimming out there on her own, enjoying the ocean on her own despite the thousands at the beach that day. It is special you can do that in a big city like Sydney.”

To buy prints of Tan's work, head to www.aquabumps.com.