 The Outback. Beyond those mountains...nothing...at...all.  I've just returned to L.A. after an extended photo adventure through every nook and cranny, and over every boulder and hiking trail in Australia. To describe me as jet-lagged and physically beat-up would be like calling Donald Trump ill-mannered. Not only am I dragging from the long flight, from the time difference, and from hauling 50 lbs of equipment across terrain that makes the surface of Mars look hospitable, but I’ve now managed to add a torn rotator cuff—the result of a dealing with a snagged 40-lb camera bag stuck in an airplane overhead bin--to my list of battle scars. (Don't let this silly smile fool you...I've put some miles on and I'm feelin' every one of them!) To briefly recap: I flew into Sydney over a month ago, discovered the sights and sounds most visitors enjoy, and then set off across the Australian Continent, headed first for the the Western Australia coastal town of Broome on the Indian Ocean.  Approaching Sydney from the north. Fabulous city!  The contrast between Sydney and all points west is startling. The interior of the country is filled with…nothing. Thousands of miles of…nothing. But even in its spare vastness, the desert plains rising to low mountain ranges worn smooth by eons of winds hold a certain visual majesty that no photographer could ignore. The quality of light at sunrise and at sunset in Australia is like none other I’ve seen.  From Broome, it was due northeast to the East Kimberly Plateau and Kununurra, where a helicopter was the perfect shooting platform for some great shots of The Bungle Bungles. This is an amazing geological phenomenon: orange and black sandstone domes rising 1,000 feet above the grass-covered plains that surround them. This is an area historically inhabited by local Aboriginal people that wasn’t even known to outsiders until the 1980s.  Once we had a good fly-over, our chopper landed and we hiked out among what appeared as enormous, towering beehives sculpted smooth by the wind. I made it as far as Echidna Cavern before my knees reminded me that I was a man of a certain age and not a spry mountain goat. I returned home with more than 10,000 images, some of which are truly “nailed it” shots…and there’s a story attached to every one! But I’ll let the images speak for themselves. They tell the story of a spectacular geologically ancient and ecologically diverse land, of a spirited and welcoming culture…and of the trip of a lifetime! While I spend the next several weeks healing and recuperating from hundreds of miles of hiking across boulders, rivers, and plains—not to mention hopping in and out of assorted trucks, boats, helicopters, and airplanes, I hope you’ll enjoy seeing it all through my lens.
Be sure to visit my Gallery Page for a better look. As always, I'm happy to send custom prints suitable for framing! Comments are closed.
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