Luke O’Brien Photography

These Australian nature photos perfectly capture the great contrasts of our land. From the tropical north which experiences wet monsoon rains each summer and a prolonged dry season through winter; to the arid and dry inland which makes up most of the continent; and the green forest fringe of the coastlines. Tasmania is an island, and due to its location at the southernmost part of Australia also has a wide variety of landscapes, and I am presenting these images as a summary of the variety of landscapes that can be experienced here.

East Coast: The eastern half of Tasmania is known for long sandy beaches and gentler, lower mountains, typified by The Hazards, a granite range at the centre of the Freycinet National Park.

Wineglass Bay, Freycinet Peninsula - View from the Hazards

The south east corner is home to very tall and sheer sea cliffs, which are made of dolerite, and drop vertically for 200+ metres in some places. The Tasman Peninsula and Bruny Island are great locations to view this coastline, either by a tourist-friendly sea cruise, or on foot.

Cape Hauy, Tasman Peninsula. Night Scene.

Moving inland from the east coast is a corridor of green. Dry and tall eucalypt forest, as well as grasslands and more shrubby eucalypt forest, and further inland is the tall wet forest that Tasmania is renowned for. Eucalypts in excess of 90 metres stand above ancient Gondwanic rainforest. Mt Field National Park and the Styx Valley of the Giants are great locations to photograph for any visitor to Tasmania.

Tasmanian Rainforest Scene, South West Tasmania

The rainforest and tall trees soon give way to the mountains of the Centre and West Coast which are a popular subject for nature photos. The most famous walk in this region is the Overland Track, which stretches from Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake in the north, to Lake St Clair in the south.

Mirror like reflections of Cradle Mountain on Dove Lake - NB - it doesn't look like this everyday!

Lake St Clair and Mt Ida, from Echo Point

The north west is home to the Tarkine, which is home to Australia’s largest rainforest. The region includes a wild, untouched coastline, and vast buttongrass plains, and has become a major tourism location in Tasmania. Most of the rainforest is inaccessible, other than by days on foot, but great walks to introduce yourself to the region include Philosopher’s Falls, and Mt Donaldson.

Tasmania's Tarkine, dawn from Mt Donaldson

And, moving further north we have a remarkable natural formation called The Nut, at Stanley. This rocky mound is all that is left of an ancient volcano, and can be climbed (or you can ride the chair lift) in only a few minutes. There is a walking trail around the top of The Nut which takes 30 minutes or so.

The Southern Cross swirls above The Nut, in Tasmania's Stanley

NEW!

We now have a new range of Greeting Cards available through the Gallery and online.

The Size is 183 x 118 mm; all cards are blank inside. Envelopes included.

View the Range of Cards here

The other day we spent a night out at Cape Raoul, approx 5 hour return walk, which is most often done as a return day walk. There is however a fantastic grassed area only about 1 km from the Cape itself which offers great camping. For photography it really isn’t rewarding taking beach & coast scenes during the midday hours when the sun is bright and the shadows are harsh - its dawn and dusk or its nothing! 

Cape Raoul

I have a few more images from the trip on the walls at 46 Melville St, come in and have a look! Monday to Friday 10:00 ~ 6:00; Saturday 10:00 ~ 3:00.

Luke

The Bay of Fires is a fantastic stretch of coast in NE Tas, stretching from the Mt William National Park in the north, down towards Binalong Bay. Here are a few images from a trip I took to the area  around easter 2009.

Beautiful orange sunrise, looking towards Binalong Bay.

The Bay of Fires is famous for its brilliant blue sea fringed by the lichen covered rocks. These lichens appear in all shades of orange and red, and are a great contrast to the azure blues of the sea. There is talk of the area becoming a National Park, which is not without its controversy and disagreements (as are all things to do with land management in Tas!). Needless to say, some knowledgable rangers, and well serviced visitor areas would be a great addition to the park, and would hopefully avoid having some of the sensitive sites (both environmentally and also for the aboriginal community) trodden/littered/4WD-ed all over…

"Stillness" - Another dawn in the area, this time, sans sun.

The above image – “Stillness”, is one of my favourites from the region. Slightly sombre and dark, it is a little different to the usual bright sunny shots of beaches. This morning, the sunrise basically didn’t happen, but the contrast in the texture and lines of the rocky coast and the smooth calm sea are what I like about this image. 

Picnic Rocks, near Eddystone Point.

I have started working on a collection of Black & White Photography. This one of the rocks at Eddystone Point was one of the first that jumped out at me that looked nice with a bit of B&W treatment!

Drop into 46 Melville St for a closer look! Monday to Friday 10:00 to 6:00; Saturday 10:00 to 3:00.

Luke

www.leatherwoodtasmania.com.au

This month I am revisiting some images of Tasmania’s Wild Tarkine region.

"Dawn in the Buttongrass"

The Tarkine is a spectacular, remote and until very recently, quite unknown part of Tasmania. Even today there is some ambiguity about the region. There is no formal boundary or defined area called the Tarkine on official maps, however, conservationists opposed to industrial logging in the timeless forests of the region coined the name during the 1990′s, and this name has really captured people’s imagination and the area is now accepted (albeit grudgingly) by the state government as an area of enormous potential for tourism in north west Tasmania.

The Philosopher Tree

Currently the area consists of the Savage River National Park, some other conservation reserves, and some “informal” reserves managed by Forestry. There are strong and determined calls to have the area reserved in totality as a national park, and included as part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. And it is easy to see why, just from visiting the area around Corinna and Waratah, including Mt Donaldson (top image) and Waratah – where there is a brilliant walk to Philosophers Falls (above image).

The Norfolk Range from Mt Donaldson, as afternoon shadows draw long over the valleys below.

The scene above has been somewhat changed in the past couple of years as a 4 wheel driver who got lost off road lit a fire in order to attract attention. That fire went on to burn out thousands of hectares, and while it is very true that fire is an essential part of the Aussie bush, it’s a shame that human induced threats are encroaching so significantly on previously inaccessible regions. There are now plans for another road through approximately 6 kms of pure rainforest in the Tarkine’s north, and this time it is the endangered Tassie Devil that could be adversely affected, as the road invites traffic, and disease affected devils, into another previously inaccesible part of the Tarkine. 

Ridgeline Silhouette

Pre-dawn mists swirl below Mt Donaldson

For Purchasing please visit the Portfolio Pages

OR

46 Melville St Hobart