Why Aerial Photography?

Posted by TIMOTHY WRATE on

I have been photographing Australia’s landscapes for over 10 years. For most of that time I have travelled and photographed much of the country on terra-firma, capturing its cities, outback, rainforests, beaches and amazing landscapes that makes Australia so diverse and magnificent.

Some of my earliest memories are of flying in my Grandfather’s Cessna 175 Skylark, a four-seater light aircraft, that he flew from his farm in Queensland’s Western Downs Region. The buzz of the propeller, the vibration of the chassis and the bumpy rural runway were all part of the thrill. However, it was the distinctive viewpoint of the geometric patterns of the fields of grain and ant-like dots of livestock scattered across the paddocks that stayed with me.

I felt a sense of nostalgia when I first stepped into the cockpit of the Cessna 172 for a photographic charter. As the single engine aircraft’s propeller coughed and spluttered to life, adrenaline surged through my veins and my early childhood memories came rushing back. I was right there - back in the cockpit of my grandfather’s plane.

For me, the sense of freedom of being in the air scanning the landscape for shapes, textures and forms is all-consuming. I feel that aerial photography provides me with a unique perspective to explore my passion for photography, as what may seem ordinary from the ground can be extraordinary from above. This is what excites me about aerial photography - it has provided me a new way to see the landscape I have obsessively been photographing for over a decade.

My passion for photography coupled with my affinity for exploring the remote parts of Australia in a light aircraft - this website was inevitable. Mother Nature, after all, has an imagination far greater than that of any human. For me, aerial photography is simply way to explore and interpret it.

I hope you enjoy this website as much as I did in making it - I hope it too helps provide you a new way to see our magnificent Great Southern Land.

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