I have been fortunate enough to photograph many of the iconic landscape locations in Australia and the USA including Canyonlands, Bryce, Arches, Antelope, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Olgas, Kings Canyon etc. etc. but I think Karijini National Park in Western Australia is as good as any of these… and may even be better than most! It is without a doubt one of the least known but amazing locations in Australia. This posting is going to be the first in a whole series of postings that outlines my experiences of the past week.
I have just returned from an incredible workshop that was run by 3 of Australia’s top photographers. Christian Fletcher, Peter Eastway and Tony Hewitt. I was one of 17 other participants who joined this workshop in order to shoot this incredible location in the company of some truly talented professional photographers.
Getting there was a chore… we opted to drive up from Perth which was 16 hours driving each way. I shared a car with Mark Stothard, Peter Ng and Keith Lightbody. When we set out on the journey I did have some concerns about spending 32 hours total in a car with three others… especially when Mark started playing his eclectic library of music… I was dealing with the Arabic disco music but drew the line at Zorba the Greek and Nanna Maskouri!!! I had to take more control of the iPod…. after that adjustment we got on just fine.
The only incident of note came after we made camp… we got up for a sunrise shoot around our camp site…. This is when I got a tasted of just how competitive Christian is about getting the great images. I was walking over towards an old abandoned caravan that Christian had just finished scouting…. however as I approached, I was blocked by an electric fence. I surveyed the fence with caution and then Christian seeing my dilemna said “Don’t Worry Mate…. It’s not turned on”. So while carrying my camera and tripod I put one leg between the fence to squeeze between the strands when all of a sudden my upper thigh touched the wire and I got a hell of a boot from the fence. I bounced off the top wire and back to the middle wire for a second boot… then a third boot…. before extracting myself from the fence.
Christian looked at me and laughed “Oh I guess I was wrong about that fence”. So I decided on getting my own back by photographing Christian in front of his van that he had just had sprayed with a custom spray job…. He was trying to keep it quiet.
I will be posting a series of blog posts with details of what it was like to explore and photograph Karijini National Park as well as participating in this incredible workshop. I will share some of my images and I will complete the series with a high definition video that I have shot in Karijini. You guys should check that out to really get a sense of what it is like to photograph this incredible place.
More posts to come shortly.
Brent
Lucky bugger! Looking forward to seeing the images and video.
Hi Brent,
Been following your blog for a while now.. maybe you should replace following with stalking hehe. But man, how good is karanjini!! I just did Australia in under 3 months (crazy) and was only able to spend one day there!! With a regular visitor so it was better, we did 2 gorges. You could easily spend a month there hey. Such a beautiful place
Hey Bryceworld
You are right about spending a month there. We were there for 5 days and only did a small proportion of the gorges. I did do the canyoning trip through the middle which was incredible. You will see some of that when I post the video.
Wow, you drove a long way just for one day, but as you have found out, there is so much to see in Aus.
BP
Hey Brent,
That is the funniest story I’ve heard in a long time. It certainly made my day.
Jamie
Sounds like you had a great time up there with plenty of laughs! looking forward to watching yours and everyone elses shots roll in!
Every now and then, I use to visit your site, you got tons of beautiful photos. Not just that, they are amazing also. Great.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hello Brent!
glad to hear you got back safely! 🙂 Was lovely meeting you and thank you for your time and patience with me in kermits pool! The photos are great I love them! You have some seroius talent! Take care x
Hey Brent next time if you need to stop Christian in his tracks just hold up a “Danger Cyanide” sign and that should do it. I hope that sign on the back window means it’s the van for rent and Christian isn’t renting himself out – still he does have some serious gear to pay for 🙂 Hope he didn’t offer his body for any Manscape shots. Nevertheless I’m looking forward to seeing your next series of posts.
Hey Tahlea
Well fancy catching up with you on my blog… thanks for the comment.
Regarding time and patience…. I enjoyed our photo session very much… I hope you did too. Wait until I post the photos of you…. I’m sure the viewers will enjoy the photos…. watch for the comments.
Brent
Hey Muzz
Christian did offer to pose for a Manscape shot, but he hadn’t shaved his bum, so I politely declined.
BP
CF’s new ride eh, look at all them flies on him bloody hell.
You all enjoyed yourself no doubt.
Try not to boom it up too much, we don’t want everyone over here taking our spots…. ha ha ha .
Look forward to some more Brent.
Dam straight merv!
You guys have got it awesome over there! It’s just a bloody long drive to get from spot to spot! I WISH i had more time to explore the south west coast… I’m definitely going to do it again 🙂 Properly next time.
hey brent it was good at karijini and love the pics you done of tahlea she is gorgeous and complimented the scenery perfectly
talk to ya soon
phil
p.s an…. dennnnn
Brent,
I told ya that trip is pretty special huh….. cant wait to see the video from there ! I love CF’s new ride, it is a classic
R u up for Canyon X again one day ?
Rod
Hey Brent
Welcome back, from the first few images it looks incredible, look forward to seeing the rest. As for Tahlea, beautiful images too, well done.
Gavin
Hi Brent,
Awesome…awesome pictures, am planning a trip there in September…
So many questions…is a week long enough… can you do lots from 1 spot or do you have to move around…did you set it up just with your mates or was there some tour that you caught on to..
Brilliant stuff…love your work 🙂
Jonathan
Hey Jonathan
I think the best way to answer your questions is to have a phone conversation. If you are around today at 5PM you can try calling me (i’ll be at the airport), otherwise perhaps Wed night (after 6PM).
Best number to get me on is my mobile 0405 537 764
Brent
Incredible capture Brent. I really like your new images from your recent trip; they are really inspiring!
this is definitely an incredible location. You should add it to picaspot.com
Wow – you really do magnificent Karijini justice