Tidal Hues

'Tidal Hues'

Styx River, Queensland - 2207

There are places where the sea keeps its secrets until the light — and the tide — choose to reveal them. The Styx River, running into Broad Sound on Queensland’s central coast, is one of those places.

At high tide the Styx can appear as broad sweeps of brown water; at low tide those sweeps peel back to expose an intricacy of channels, sand banks and mudflats — a living geometry carved by salt, freshwater and current. The region regularly experiences very large tidal swings, and on big tides the river even produces a tidal bore that can push upstream as a breaking, surf-like wave. 

This aerial photograph of the Styx tidal flats captures more than shapes and colour — it captures scale and process. Tiny braided channels thread through pale sand and darker mud, while ribbons of deeper water glitter like veins. These patterns tell a seasonal and daily story: shifting sediments, pulse floods and retreating seas, and the constant interplay between mangrove fringes and open flats that define the estuary’s ecology. 

There’s a quiet drama in knowing this scene will be gone again by the next high water. This image documents of a single moment — a reason why limited-edition aerial prints of places like this resonate: they freeze a tide’s choreography and the unique light that revealed it.