On the edge of the Simpson Desert, and in the still of the night you think there’s nothing living out here, it’s so quiet. But in the morning there’s all these little tracks of the wee beasties that live out there, scuttling about in the night.
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Dawn at Windorah, Queensland
Porcupine Rocks, Perisher, NSW - AUD$1500
My first attempt at cross-country skiing. But with a heavy camera on my back I kept falling over, and so, in a fit of pique, threw the skis away. So, on hands and knees I made my way into this grove of snowgums, and then crawled back home.
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Porcupine Rocks, Perisher, NSW
Outcrop, Goldsworthy Road, WA - AUD$1500
Every now and then you come across them, these lovely forms in rock that symbolize something close to your heart. Here, for me, it is the yin and yang, the male and female, lovers maybe, a unity of form and heart; a wish maybe.
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Outcrop, Goldsworthy Road, WA
Normies Moon, Queensland - AUD$1500
I was shooting a job for an insurance company who owned cattle stations in Queensland. The owners of the station had just put dinner on the table when I spotted a full moon rising over the dam outside and so, with apologies to the cook, I fled outside and grabbed the picture of the moon before it rose out of the frame. When I got back to my home I found out that a dear friend of mine, Normie, had died that night, so this is his moon.
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Normies Moon, Queensland
Road to Nightcap Range, Mullumbimby, NSW - AUD$1500
We were headed into the rainforest, a mate and me, until we came to this bend in the road and the two trees, one black, one white. Low cloud was moving through the scene, it was constantly changing, and so that’s as far as we got that afternoon.
I like the road that goes to who knows where, and the mystical circle of cloud. I like to think that it’s a picture that takes you away to wherever you want to go.
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Road to Nightcap Range, Mullumbimby, NSW
Pinnacle Desert, WA - AUD$1500
I got so caught up in photographing these forms of petrified forest that I took no heed of where I was headed. Luckily my assistant was looking out for me and kept honking the horn, and I followed the sound back to camp. A lesson learnt: take notice of where you’re going , otherwise you might not make it back.
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Pinnacle Desert, WA
Sacred Rock, Kakadu, NT - AUD$1500
This is a very sacred place to the Aboriginal people who live here. You can’t go there alone; a tribesman must accompany you. The aboriginal story here is that this is the creative spirit that made this country, who turned into rock when his work was done.
A huge crocodile lives in the billabong. ‘Be careful of that feller, ‘ the Old Man whose country it was told me, ‘but don’t think about him too much, or you’ll call him up.’ Which, to me, sums up a good attitude to take towards the things that we fear. Don’t dwell on them too much, or they might just happen.
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Sacred Rock, Kakadu, NT
Road to Hamersley Gorge, WA - AUD$1500
I’m always on the lookout for good road shots, and this one is a beauty because the ghost gums on either side of the road are like dancing girls swaying to the music. Last time I was there, I shot them by night, lit by torches. Beautiful.
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Road to Hamersley Gorge, WA
Snowgums, Narcissus River, Tasmania - AUD$1500
The advantage of having an assistant! This picture had to be shot on the edge of the riverbank. Big Al was holding onto my belt to prevent me falling into those freezing waters, the camera and tripod was in the water already. The river was swollen with snowmelt, so it was not a torrent that you should fall into. Against the cool tones of the water the colours on the snowgums almost glowed.
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Snowgums, Narcissus River, Tasmania
Walls of China, Lake Mungo, NSW - AUD$1500
A very old Aboriginal campsite. Here lie the bones of the Giant Wombat and other similar ancient creatures, long since gone, as is the lake that was here once upon a time too. Now there is only the wind.
THE GALLERY
