Regional photographers showcase the best of rural Australia
Meet the man who will travel for days to photograph shearing sheds and old hotels across the country, and fellow snappers who make regional Australia shine.
FROM old woolsheds, to storms and stars over the paddocks and coast, to the beauty of day-to-day life on their own farm, regional Australia is fruitful ground for photographers.
And with social media, everyone from professionals to amateurs can share this beauty far and wide — even in the midst of a pandemic.
FORCES OF NATURE
AT A glance, Clint Conn’s two favourite subjects to photograph are very different — the calm, and the storm.
Clint will travel vast distances to capture photos of coastal landmarks and rural scenery. Overhead will generally be one of two things — the stars in the night sky or a lightning strike splitting the horizon.
“I just loved it, being under the stars, plus storm chasing. If you photograph a good lightning bolt over something, you get addicted. That’s what it is — an addiction,” he says.
Clint, 41, enjoyed photography at school in Geelong, but it was not until his 30s that he revisited it seriously. These days he splits his time between his lawn mowing business and taking photographs, heading west towards the Great Ocean Road or the Bellarine Peninsula.
Clint, who is self-taught, laughs and cringes when he thinks about how much his skills have improved, and his favourite snaps are regularly superseded.
His photo of an old tree under the stars (pictured), which was taken at Mt Moriac in mid-May, is a highlight. “It looks like it is holding the Milky Way up,” he says.
Rather than a website, he posts photos on his Facebook page, Clint Conn Photography, which is followed by more than 5700 people. Most of his posts will detail when and where a shot was taken and also the settings he used.
He sells prints, canvas prints and aluminium prints of his work, and has also been featured in City of Greater Geelong calendars.
Clint says he can be impatient, but when he’s out with the camera he has “all the patience in the world”. Which is fortunate because, when it comes to shooting nature, especially storms and lightning, there isn’t much within his control. He says he drive hours after tracking a storm, only for it to change direction or die out.
He still has some photos on his wish list, including to get a photo of lightning directly over the 12 Apostles
“There’s been plenty of times I’ve gone there and it just didn’t happen,” he says.
“We might go out 100 times and one of them is good so I only keep that one shot.
“So there is a lot of times people think ‘oh you were just there at the right time’. That’s wrong.
“Same as storm chasing. I could go out 100 times for one good shot. That’s driving all night.”
HISTORIC BUILDINGS
WHEN he is going out on one of his photographing missions, Bendigo’s Darryl Kirby will throw a swag into the back of the car and head off for two or three weeks at a time.
The 66-year-old former forestry worker has amassed more than 130,000 photographs in his catalogue, covering about 35 years.
“That was just a hobby, but even back then I had a particular interest in old rural buildings and old farm sheds, farm houses, and the history and stories that went with those old rural buildings,” he says.
He estimates he has photos, internal and external, of about 350 woolsheds across the country, including his favourite, Toganmain woolshed, near Hay in NSW, a 110-stand shed (pictured below).
And he has travelled as far as Cordillo Downs, in South Australia near the Queensland border, to snap an 1883 shed. He has also documented “a couple of hundred” old inland pubs and hotels.
He says his fascination comes from the architecture and how they were constructed.
“Most of these ones I go to were built in the late 1800s and when you get to these isolated areas, they’ve been built out of materials available at the time,” Darryl says. “Have a look at those pen gates, and they’re as good as the day they were put in and to me that’s absolutely amazing.”
Due to the virus, Darryl has not added to his woolshed collection since last year, but has taken photos locally, including the new silo art at Colbinabbin. And thanks to his son, Glenn, Darryl’s photos can now be viewed on the DGK Photography Facebook page. He says family members have encouraged him to publish a book of his wool sheds or pubs, and he is considering making a calendar in the future.
BIRDS ON THE FARM
LIVING on a farm at Byaduk means amateur photographer Kiri Handreck doesn’t have to go too far to get snaps of her favourite subject — colourful birds.
Instead, they will come to her … some of the time.
“Sometimes you can walk out and you’ll get the brilliant shot in your 15-minute tea break, and other days you can spend all day trying to chase birds around the farm and none come to you,” she says.
Kiri’s husband’s family has been on their 485ha property for generations, and they have about 4000 sheep.
She took up photography after a long period of illness.
“When I was lying on the couch looking at other people’s photos, I thought when I’m feeling better I’m going to take my own photos,” she says.
“That was six years ago … and I love it.”
Kiri says she was solely focused on landscape photography, but after a few months she started snapping pictures of birds, too.
These days, birds and reflection photography — using water to create dual images within a photo — are the 52-year-old’s favourites.
While she has been wary of travelling to take pictures due to coronavirus, there has been plenty of opportunities closer to home and the farm to keep her busy.
“I think it’s a form of meditation because you are so focused on the moment, and I suppose it was about celebrating the beauty of the world.”
She hopes her photos, which she publishes on her Facebook page Kiri’s Images (1000 followers) bring “joy” to people.
MORE
NEW BOOK IS RIPE FOR THE PICKING
How a Mount Bolton farmer lives without waste
A Mount Bolton woman who is committed to living with less impact is spruiking the philosophy of the four F’s: farming, foraging, fossicking and frugavoring.
Madonna & John Williamson share what title?
The Chase Australia’s Brydon Coverdale new quiz for The Weekly Times readers is here. Are you game to put your knowledge to the test?