Chapter Two brings forward a more immediate expression of place where colour, light and moment take a stronger role.

These images were made across coastal heathlands, open forests, granite country and grasslands, often in conditions where light was brief but decisive. In these moments, colour becomes more than a description, it shapes the way the landscape is experienced.

The work moves between wide landscapes and close encounters, where birds, grasses and mammals are held within the same visual language. Some images are bold and direct; others rely on subtle shifts in tone and atmosphere.

This chapter, Vivid, reflects a different kind of attention, one that responds quickly to changing light, while grounded in observation and place.

Featured Works

After the Heat

Mount Barney National Park

Captured from the summit of East Peak on Mount Barney at last light in March, this image looks back across the ridge as the sun drops behind West Peak and the distant escarpments of Main Range National Park. Humidity from the day still lingers in the air, softening the layers beyond while the last light catches the spine of the mountain. The image reflects the physical scale and atmosphere of this country in the final minutes before dark.

This work continues within Valley & Stone - The Scenic Rim Collection.

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Close Encounter

Greater Brisbane

This close portrait of a rainbow lorikeet captures a brief but steady moment of attention. Bright plumage and soft background tones allow the bird’s natural colour to carry the frame, while its expression gives the image a sense of curiosity and energy. Common and often overlooked, rainbow lorikeets bring a vivid presence to the bush and suburban edge alike, where movement and noise are part of their daily rhythm.
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Summer Green

Scenic Rim

Photographed near sunset after a warm late January day in the Scenic Rim, this image looks across the valley beneath Mount Moon while the landscape still holds the saturation of a wet summer. Greens remain rich through the foreground and lower slopes, while soft evening light settles over the mountain itself. The scene reflects the fuller, more vivid character after rain and heat.

This landscape continues within Valley & Stone - The Scenic Rim Collection as Beneath Mount Moon.

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Burn Line

Main Range National Park

Taken from Lizard Point at sunset, this image captures a storm-darkened ridgeline briefly lit by intense evening light. The cliff face holds a strong glow against heavy cloud, creating a contrast between warmth and approaching weather. Photographed from a less familiar vantage within Main Range, the image reflects the brief and often daunting conditions that can transform the escarpment at day’s end.

A companion work from this region, Veil on the Rim explores the Great Dividing Range from ground level at dusk.
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Spring Nectar

Main Range National Park

This image shows a butterfly feeding on the fresh flower spike of a grasstree during early spring. Soft light and shallow focus isolate the interaction, drawing attention to the delicate relationship between flowering plant and pollinator. The scene reflects a quieter expression of vividness, not through scale or intensity, but through the seasonal return of movement and life across the bush.
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Eye of the Rainforest

Gold Coast Hinterland

Photographed on the Gold Coast, this image captures a king parrot paused briefly in the darker understory before moving on. The bird’s vivid plumage stands in strong contrast to the surrounding greens, creating a concentrated field of colour within the frame. The portrait reflects the brief, often unexpected moments where rainforest light and movement align.
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Storm Break

Greater Brisbane

Captured after a storm in Ipswich, this image records a rainbow forming above gum trees while darker cloud still lingers behind. Rain in the air deepens the surrounding colour and sharpens the contrast between sky, foliage, and weather. The image reflects a brief clearing, one of those short-lived moments, where light and atmosphere shift the ordinary into something more immediate.
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Afternoon Glow

Yuraygir National Park

This portrait of an eastern grey kangaroo was photographed at sunset, when low golden light created strong contrast across the animal’s form. The side light brings forward detail through the face and fur while the background falls away into softer tone. The image reflects the visual clarity that often arrives in the final hour of day, when familiar species take on a stronger presence through light alone.
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Among Blossoms

Condamine River

Taken in Warwick at sunrise during mid-winter, this image captures a musk lorikeet in a rare still moment among flowering branches. These birds move quickly and unpredictably through blossom, often appearing only as brief flashes of colour. The photograph holds one of those short pauses, where movement, light, and subject align for only a moment before disappearing again.
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Granite Morning

Girraween National Park

Photographed at sunrise in Girraween National Park, this aerial panorama looks across Twin Peaks as winter wattles bloom through the surrounding country. Warm morning light catches the granite while the yellow flowering moves outward in repeating clusters through the landscape. The image reflects one of the park’s most vivid seasonal transitions, where colour arrives at scale across a rugged granite environment.
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Red Escarpment

Scenic Rim

Taken on an overcast winter day in the Scenic Rim, this image shows the cliffline of Mount French catching an unexpected band of filtered red light. Distant cloud softened the sun enough to allow the granite face to glow with unusual intensity, turning the escarpment briefly electric against the darker country around it. The photograph reflects the unpredictability of light under layered weather.

A companion to this work, Stone and Country featured in Valley & Stone - The Scenic Rim Collection explores the sweeping southern view behind Mount Moon land into the McPherson Range
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Summer Layers

Blue Mountains

This zoomed landscape was photographed in the Blue Mountains during a cloudy summer sunset, where successive ridgelines recede into warm atmospheric haze. The tighter frame compresses distance and emphasises the repetition of form, allowing colour and tonal layering to carry the image. It is a quieter expression of vividness — built through depth, softness, and the slow fading of light across country.
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Further Works

Shared Ground

Northern Beaches

Photographed on the Northern Beaches of New South Wales, this image captures a galah passing through the frame while an eastern grey kangaroo feeds above the coastline. The composition brings together species, habitat, and the vivid colour of the coast in a single moment. It reflects the everyday richness of Australian landscapes, where wildlife and place remain closely tied.
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Evening Joey

Yuraygir National Park

This portrait of a young eastern grey kangaroo was photographed at sunset in Yuraygir National Park. Warm evening light outlines the animal while the background fades. The image reflects a brief, quiet encounter shaped by timing and patience rather than movement.
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Breakthrough

Scenic Rim

Taken from the summit of Mount Maroon at sunset, this image captures a moment where vibrant light moved sharply through the surrounding ridgelines and valleys. The conditions transformed quickly, with warm light burning across the landscape and lifting the sense of scale and energy in the scene. The photograph reflects the excitement of witnessing country briefly altered by light.

A companion to this work, South of Sunset, featured in Valley & Stone - The Scenic Rim Collection, showcases the neighbouring peak, Mount Barney, also using human presence for scale.
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Smoke and Gum

Gariwerd (Grampians National Park)

Photographed near one of the highest points in the Grampians, this image looks toward a single gum tree while bushfire smoke settles heavily through the valley below. The scene brings together intimacy and scale, focusing closely on one of the bush’s most recognisable forms while the wider landscape is transformed by smoke and distance. It reflects a quieter, more reflective kind of vividness shaped by atmosphere rather than colour alone.
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Ancient Towers

Scenic Rim

This image shows a dense stand of grasstrees in the Scenic Rim photographed at sunset. Backlight catches the upper forms while much of the surrounding country remains in shadow, emphasising their height, repetition, and presence within the landscape. Common across parts of the region, these plants become more striking in low light, where their structure carries the frame.

Support work from this location, Old Companions, showcases another perspective of the same stand of grasstrees at sunset. This work is presented in Valley & Stone - The Scenic Rim Collection.

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