Australian Photography — January 2018

GIMME

SHELTER

As a foreigner living in Australia, I am always fascinated by

showing the different faces of this beautiful country. This

often means going against the elements to capture scenes

that haven’t been seen before.

Far away from the sunny beaches, I travelled to the

Snowy mountains in August last year. While it is amazingly

popular for downhill skiing, I was really surprised by

the emptiness as, along with a friend, we were the only

people backcountry skiing at that time. It was so beautiful,

reminding me of Antarctica.

The night of this photo, it actually felt like Antarctica

was right there with us. Early in the afternoon, I sensed

that the conditions might worsen, so we decided to head

to Seaman’s hut for photography and safety. Later that

evening, a blizzard hit us with harsh 100km/h winds at

-15C and visibility dropped to less than 10 metres. In the

meantime, I had pointed my Fujifilm GFX camera south

in order to create a series of 15 minute long exposures.

Just 30 minutes later, I discovered a camera and lens

functioning under a thick layer of frost. Despite the poor

conditions, the camera was able to capture the milky way

with an added touch of frost added to the photo.

While traveling, safety should always be priority number

one. But it’s sometimes in the worst photographic conditions

you may get the most unexpected and beautiful results.

FUJIFILM GFX, TAMRON 15-30MM F2.8 LENS, 900S

@ F3.2, ISO 200

BEHIND THE LENS

PHOTOGRAPHER: JOSSELIN CORNOU