Australian Wildlife

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, September 5, 2010 | flickr photos

These photos were taken recently on a 2 month road trip to Australia’s top end. The aim of the trip was to escape Brisbane’s winter and spend June and July searching for and photographing wildlife and locations it was found.

I have had an interest in photography since being given a film slr in high school, I took a tafe course in the basics of camera use and dark room but alas film and development was expensive and my interest was never fully recognised. A few years later I purchased a digital body and began to experiment without further financial constraints. My interest in wildlife photography stems from my study of zoology and ecology at the University of Queensland. I brought my camera with me on university field trips and met others who shared my interest. I started taking my camera everywhere with me and began scouring the internet for information. My back pack grew in weight as I began to replace kit lenses with better glass, tripods and flashes. I have a passion for finding and photographing wildlife in its natural setting. When photographing wildlife I try in some way to go beyond a standard portrait, I try to record some additional information about the animals behaviour, incorporate the habitat into the composition or capture a novel pose. For me wildlife photography is about portraying the animal in the setting where it is found in nature instead of a zoo.

Why do I want to win this competition? Because this is what I want to do! Seriously, and if given the chance I think I could be really good at it. In the few years that I have committed myself to my photography I have seen my images improve beyond measure, and I know that they can be better.