The view from out here - the stories behind the photographs

Vanishing Act

Australia is a continent distinguished by its flora and fauna - as unique as they are iconic. Ask any tourist to rattle off a list of animals and there are perhaps none more quintessential than the kangaroo, wombat, platypus, emu, and koala. It is therefore both a shock to many that so many of our native species are going extinct, at a rate faster than any other country for our mammals (1). This should be a national embarrassment and outrage, threatening our international reputation, our tourist industry, our national parks and biodiversity, and our very identify and heritage. It’s hard to understand the cognitive dissonance of a modern nationalist agenda professing the defence of Australian culture, identity, and independence - but selling our coal for a dime, our gas for a penny, and old growth forests for toilet paper (2).

This photograph captures a solitary koala in the wild, where surrounding habitat has been destroyed by mining and agriculture, and where one has a better chance of seeing a koala as roadkill than in a tree.

Reference: 1) The Conversation (2022) ‘‘Gut-wrenching and infuriating’: why Australia is the world leader in mammal extinctions, and what to do about it’[online]. The Conversation. 19 October. Available at: <https://theconversation.com/gut-wrenching-and-infuriating-why-australia-is-the-world-leader-in-mammal-extinctions-and-what-to-do-about-it-192173> ; 2) Holmes, A (2023) ‘Tasmania expands native logging harvest area as other states wind back’[online]. ABC News. 4 July. Available at: <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-04/tasmania-expands-native-logging-areas/102552280>.

Tributary

Waterways in and around urban areas are frequently impacted by the chemical and nutrient runoff from agriculture, residential land, and industry, and frequently polluted by sewage treatment plants. Pesticides and heavy metals kill and poison the plants and animals of these river ecosystems, and excess nutrients such as from fertilizer washing into waterways cause eutrophication and subsequent algal blooms - harming both people and animals that rely on safe water.

This photograph was captured at a river affected frequent enterococci and algal pollution. Ecosystems do not exist in silos, and the downstream consequences of human activity must always be considered.

Reference: 1) Pinto, Maheshwari and Ollerton (2012) ‘Analysis of long-term water quality for effective river health monitoring in peri-urban landscapes—a case study of the Hawkesbury–Nepean river system in NSW, Australia‘. Environmental monitoring and assessment. 185:4551-4569.

In Ashes

The 2019-2020 summer bushfire season represented an unprecedented and protracted period of catastrophic bushfires in Australia. At time of writing in February 2020, 32 lives have been lost, around one billion animals killed, and around 4.9 million hectares burned in New South Wales state alone.

I captured this film photograph of some charred leaves whilst driving through some of the area left devastated by the Gospers Mountain megablaze that tore through national park on the outskirts of Sydney for weeks on end.

Reference: 1) Evershed, N, Ball, A and Zhou, N (2020) ‘How big are the fires burning in Australia? Interactive map’[online]. The Guardian. 24 January. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-interactive/2019/dec/07/how-big-are-the-fires-burning-on-the-east-coast-of-australia-interactive-map>. 2) University of Sydney News_ (2020) ‘More than one billion animals killed in Australian bushfires’[online]. University of Sydney. 8 January. Available at: <https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/01/08/australian-bushfires-more-than-one-billion-animals-impacted.html>.

The Blue Expanse

The Blue Mountains UNESCO World Heritage Listed national park is close to my heart as both a globally recognised natural reserve of outstanding universal value and the home to the humble village in which I grew up. Threatened by urban sprawl and over-development, highway and motorway expansions and bypasses, frequent intense bushfires, and a warming globe, this blue labyrinth of unending beauty demonstrates what we stand to lose without a collective and resolute commitment to protecting the natural world.

This photograph was taken at one of my favourite lookouts, with Mount Solitary in the distance surrounded by fields of eucalypts creating an ocean of blue. Much of this area would be seen left burnt out by the catastrophic 2019-20 summer bushfires to come a few months later.

Reference: 1) UNESCO (2020) ‘Greater Blue Mountains Area’[webpage]. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Available at: <https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/917/>.

Landschaft Alpine

The Swiss Alps represent some of the most visually stunning landscapes on planet earth, characterised by deep valleys filled with wildflowers and soaring mountain peaks delicately dusted with snow. The mountainous terrain with its glacial rivers demonstrates the essential significance of a seasonal water cycle, necessary for natural life to flourish and humble alpine villages to subsist. But not even these pristine summits are spared by climate change, and with increasing rockfall and mountain instability, heavier rainfall and flooding, and vanishing glaciers, the future for this incredible alpine realm looks increasingly bleak.

Attempting to capture the feeling evoked when looking out on such an extraordinary view is truly impossible, but leaning from a precariously balanced platform on a mountainside in Birg in the Bernese Alps meant I was able to compose a picture spanning from the valley floor to mountain summit.

Reference: 1) MeteoSwiss (2020) ‘Climate change in Switzerland’[webpage]. Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss. Available at <https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/home/climate/climate-change-in-switzerland.html>.

Fantails in a forest

The dense green forests and vegetation of New Zealand’s North Island make a perfect home for the fantail or pīwakawaka.

I found this elusive character to be one of the bigger photographic challenges of this expedition - constantly darting between branches and moving from the tree top canopies to the dense thickets just above the forest floor. A great deal of patience was required to sneak this photograph but I think it dutifully captures the equally inquisitive but shy spirit of the fantail here.

Hillside Hopper

The wallaby is one of the most iconic and unique Australian animals to grace the scrubland and dry sclerophyll forests scattered around the country. Though widely distributed, threats to wallaby populations and health include feral introduced species like foxes and cats, along with habitat loss through land clearing and fragmentation (1).

Hiking alongside the South Esk River and exploring the wild areas of Tasmania reveals an amazing diversity of creatures and habitat, creating an incredibly immersive experience. On this expedition I wanted to improve my wildlife photography and in doing so, one of the biggest challenges for me was working within a relatively short timeframe. Capturing these necessarily suspicious and timid animals often requires an impossibly perfect combination of good weather, patience, and immeasurable amount of good luck.

Reference: 1) Bush heritage Australia (2020) ‘Wallabies’[webpage]. Bush Heritage Australia. Available at: <https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/wallabies> [Accessed: 10/04/2020].

Getting the photo was complicated after being unexpectedly startled by a group of wild dogs and possibly juvenile dingoes. Completely taken aback, this was the first occasion I have encountered such animals in the wild, only to see them quickly slink away into the tall grass as I fired away a few photos.

The dingo is an species of canine native to Australia that serves a crucial role in creating a healthy ecosystem as an apex predator. Furthermore, through their control of introduced pests such as feral cats, the dingo helps to preserve other small mammal and bird species that would have otherwise been decimated. Despite their pivotal role in the native landscape, the dingo is not offered any protection as a native species or otherwise, and is subjected to trapping, hunting, baiting, and poisoning by livestock owners.

Reference: 1) Brink, H et al. (2018) ‘Pets and pests: a review of the contrasting economics and fortunes of dingoes and domestic dogs in Australia, and a proposed new funding scheme for non-lethal dingo management’. Wildlife Research, 46(5): 365-377. DOI:10.1071/WR19030. 2) Cairns, K (2020) ‘Dingoes are native animals, not ferals. Blue Mountains Gazette. 2nd July.

Airborne

Aerial work is one of the most incredible places to take photography, allowing you to experience a place like never before. There’s nothing quite like seeing your favourite city from a birds eye view among the clouds. Although I took my telephoto lens for this flight, I was surprised at how close we were able to fly to the cityscape, and was able to use a standard lens. Next time I will definitely take an ND filter and would love to try a tilt-shift lens.

I’ll let you guess the city, and I hope the photos inspire you as much as they do me.