Australian Photography December 2021

If the last year has shown us anything, it’s that expectations we may have had that the pandemic would be just a ‘2020 thing’ were ambitious to say the least. Another year of heartbreak and sadness for so many of us around the world has continued, and it’s only when you look back do you get a sense of perspective on how disrupted the last 12 months have been for all of us. For me, maybe it was the impact of the floods in greater Sydney in March, the three months of lockdown in the later half of the year, or perhaps just having a new baby in the house, but 2021 hasn’t been a particularly memorable year for my own photography, and despite being lucky enough to use some amazing…

SAMUEL MARKHAM Samuel Markham is a self-taught landscape and wilderness photographer based on the South Coast, NSW. Since picking up a camera in 2011, he has been making his visions a reality. See more at samuelmarkham. photography. IAN HOLLIS Ian Hollis is a passionate 22-year-old photographer from South-West Sydney. He works as a primary school teacher, and says photographing the ocean is the perfect way to spend his free time. See more at ianhollisphotography.com STEVE THOMAS Steve Thomas has been racing, shooting and writing about bikes and adventure travel for most of his life, and has earned his crust from it for 25-plus years. See more of his work at stevethomasimages.com SHREYAS YADAV Shreyas Yadav is an engineer and wildlife and nature photographer from India. He is also a writer and lifelong adventure explorer. See more of…

Australia needed rain. Parts of the country had been burning for months and we were in the grip of the worst bushfire season in recorded history. On the 31st December 2019, my family and I went to war with the Currowan Pyro-Cumulonimbus firestorm when we tried to protect our precious family home from the devastating Black Summer Australian bushfires. That day was terrifying, and it’s something I will never forget. The fire hit us with brutal force and left our property a smouldering mess. Everything was either burnt or melted. The blackened earth exposed scorched dead animals and trees that vented smoke for months afterwards. We lost a small cottage but managed to save the main homestead. My family and I all safely survived, but the internal scars live on. Mother Nature…

SELECTED from more than 50,000 entries from 95 countries, the winners of the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition have been announced for 2021. French underwater photographer and biologist Laurent Ballesta was announced as this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his image, Creation, that captures camouflage groupers exiting their milky cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia. Every year, for five years, Laurent and his team returned to this lagoon, diving day and night so as not to miss the annual spawning that only takes place around the full moon in July. After dark, they were joined by hundreds of grey reef sharks, hunting the groupers in packs. Overfishing threatens this vulnerable species, but in Fakarava the fish are protected within a special biosphere reserve. Ten-year old…

Delete…that’s not sharp. Delete… that one’s blurred. Hang on, I like that look! Sorting through our images like this is something that all photographers probably do after most of our shoots. And although it’s often easy just to ditch anything you think isn’t quite perfect, sometimes you’ll notice a hidden gem. I’m talking about blurry images, something I think can be unique, creative, and downright beautiful! Over the years I can remember many shoots where I have successfully captured all the sharp images I could ever need, and then have thought ‘what else could I shoot?’. It’s times like these I’ll always try to capture creative blur images. Back in 1981 in the rainforests of Lamington National Park, I distinctly remember having little option but to capture creative blur shots. The light…

SEASONS THIS MONTHS WINNER ROD NAZER Autumn in Birmingham, UK EDITOR’S COMMENT Rod Nazer captured this quite lovely image in Birmingham and tells us he was attracted by the reflection and colourful Autumn leaves, still wet from the recent rain. “I feel that the red telephone box adds a point of interest and a quintessentially English feel to the image,” he says. This is a beautifully sharp image that has lots of elements for a viewer to explore – those leaves, the puddle and reflections and the pedestrian walking towards us. It could feel busy, but by using the leaves to anchor the foreground you’ve created a nicely balanced image. SAMSUNG GALAXY S9+, 1/50S @F2.4, ISO 160. HIGHLY COMMENDED KATIE TURNBULL Bushfire EDITOR’S COMMENT Katie Turnbull took this powerful, emotive, and downright scary photo whilst waiting for fires to sweep through her…