Western Australia from Above: An Abstract Wonderland
Francois Detaille takes us on his journey to Western Australia chasing the different art forms that nature can produce over one of nature’s oldest landscapes.
Sep 10, 2024
By Francois Detaille
Australia is a vast continent which offers many unique landscapes. Looking at numbers, it is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world’s sixth largest country. Most importantly, it is the oldest, flattest and driest continent on Earth, which is what makes it so fascinating to observe, especially from an aerial vantage point.
As a Brisbane-based aerial photographer, I’ve spent 10 years photographing across the state of Queensland, located on the eastern shores of Australia. It is the most tropical Australian state with its rainforest, pristine beaches and world-famous Great Barrier Reef. But every time I’ve seen aerial photographs of Western Australia, its vibrant colours and painting-like landscapes always struck me.So, this July, I decided to experience it with my own eyes and embarked on a 3-week solo photography road trip.
Planning a trip to Western Australia can be rather overwhelming as there is so much to see along the way and to really explore the whole state, you would probably need a few months. So, with 3 weeks on my hands, I decided to focus on the driest part of the state which produces the best abstract subjects for photography, starting south from Perth and heading north towards Broome, located in the Kimberley’s region.
Besides looking at the places I wanted to photograph, I knew I had to prepare for the many practical challenges my road trip would encounter. The route I planned out covered over 7,500 kilometers, with an average of 340 km a day of driving the campervan I rented. To put things into perspective, Western Australia is huge, taking up a third of the country’s land mass. It is 10 times the size of the UK with a population of only 2.5 million, with 75% of the population living in Perth and its surroundings. As you can imagine, as soon as you leave Perth, you can drive for hours without seeing a single soul around, not to mention service stations. One vital piece of advice, refuel every time you pass a station!
Nature’s Colour Palette: The Dry Lakes
For the first part of the trip, I wanted to explore the famous Perth Wheatbelt region, made of many salt lakes which are the remnants of ancient paleolithic riverbeds. Often these pools form isolated microcosms of aquatic life, only mixing with other pools when the system floods following heavy rains. This results in a series of multi-coloured lakes which can be seen from the sky using a drone or even flying in and out of Perth Airport.
When planning the trip, I mapped the lake reserves I wanted to explore and with a bit of help from Google Earth, I managed to access most of them navigating through a maze of farmland tracks, completely off the beaten tracks.
I had to get as close as possible to the lakes to accommodate the range of the drone, which was limited by the battery life, not to mention the wind which is another crucial element for the drone to make it home safely. So often I ventured through dead end tracks to then launch the drone in the hope of finding those gems. Everything I saw was pure amazement. Starting the trip with this was very exhilarating and I couldn’t wait for what was lying ahead.
I then headed back to the coastline and made my way up north, continuing my quest for stunning colors and patterns among the salt farms and lakes of the Australian mid-West. While a bit more touristy and with some form of human touch, these lakes are very famous for their vibrant colors and various color palettes.
The most famous among photographers is Hutt Lagoon Pink Lake near Geraldton, around 5 hours north of Perth.
Even on a cloudy day it is stunning with the clouds reflected in the pink waters. This pink hue is created by the presence of carotenoid-producing algae, called “Dunaliella salina”, which is a source of beta-carotene, a source of food-colouring agent and a source of Vitamin A. This second salt farm has a different colour palette with a variation of green hues surrounded by bleached white sand.
Due to variable algal concentrations, vivid colors (from pale green to bright red) are created in the evaporation ponds. The color indicates the salinity of the ponds. Microorganisms change their hues as the salinity of the pond increases. In low- to mid-salinity ponds, green algae such as Dunaliella salina are predominant, although these algae can also take on an orange hue. Halobacteria, a type of halophilic Archaea (also known as Haloarchaea), are responsible for changing the color of middle to high-salinity ponds to shades of pink, red, and orange. Other bacteria such as Stichococcus also contribute to those tints.
Heading Even More Off-Track in Search of Shark Bay Red Sand and Turquoise Lagoons
When planning the trip, I had a very specific lagoon in mind which is located on a remote part of UNESCO World Heritage Shark Bay. To get there, I drove further north to Shark Bay and Francois Peron National Park, a dreamy landscape of red dunes and arid shrublands surrounded by turquoise waters. The Peninsula is known as Wulyibidi to the local Malgana Aboriginal people who occupied the area prior to European settlement, and continue to live in Shark Bay Region.
Following some heavy rain the previous days, the 4WD sand track was unfortunately closed when I got there, so I decided to walk the 40km return journey to the lagoon I had dreamed of for months. It was worth the effort, but it was also a bit daunting at the same time to not see a single soul along the way apart from a few emus, kangaroos and goats roaming the national park.
At the start, my brain started to analyze any potential scenarios that could put me in danger, but over time a feeling of safety took over which made me realize how nature is probably the safest place to be on Earth, as long as you pack enough water and food to sustain the sun and the distance! While walking on my own like that into the wild, I never felt so connected with nature, staying alert to any sound, insects or patterns along my way. Living in the moment like that made it easier to reflect on my own feelings and capture the beauty of the surroundings.
Photographer Francois Detaille walks through the stark landscape of Francois Peron National Park, Western Australia, in search of nature’s abstract art. © Amazing Aerial Agency / Francois Detaille
After a 20km walk, I finally arrived at the entrance to the bay. It is simply breath-taking, with the Big Lagoon sitting in the distance and this vibrant red sand all around.
Shark Bay is also the home of the world’s largest dugong population with 10,000 animals, thanks to the vast seagrass meadows all along its shores. It is also home of the famous stromatolites; stony structures built by colonies of microscopic photosynthesizing organisms called cyanobacteria, among the oldest life forms on the planet. A stereotype often made about Western Australia is that it is a no man's land, but when wandering there I realized how much life there was, such as emus, kangaroos, snakes, echidnas etc.
Its marine life is even more prominent. Western Australia has a globally unique biodiversity characterized by significant regional endemism, meaning that there are plants and animals that only live in a particular location. This is due to the State’s geographical expanse, climatic diversity, areas of relative wilderness, regions with extremely nutrient-impoverished soils, and the fact that significant areas of Western Australia have not been covered by sea or glaciated over geological time.
Natural and Human Art: Iron Ore Paintings
My next stop was the Pilbara region, famous for its ancient landscapes and one of the world’s largest collections of Aboriginal engraved rock art. My chase for nature abstracts continued, as I explored the different salt farms and dry lands along the way. I was hoping to find different shapes and stories from those landscapes and what I found was astonishing.
The Pilbara region is also famous for its rich onshore and offshore resource deposits. Western Australia hosts 98% of Australia’s iron ore and is the top region in the world for mining investment, and some of the world’s top supplies of iron ore are located right in Pilbara.
While driving through the region, l crossed many mine sites, which are often located in the heart of national parks. This creates important challenges to the region to improve its attractiveness and well-being standards, especially for First Nations and non-mining workers. Green transition presents an opportunity to diversify its economy and shift towards sustainable mining while preserving its unique and fragile natural environment.
From a photographic standpoint though, the local iron ochre gives a unique paint-like feeling to the landscape that almost turns photographs into paintings. The resulting abstract images allow each viewer to interpret the landscape in their own way, with plenty of room for your imagination to wander.
I then started to connect what I photographed with aboriginal paintings I saw in galleries.
These paintings are based on their aerial perception of the land without the use of any drone which makes it even more fascinating. Among many art forms worldwide, it’s the Australian Aboriginal artworks that have uniquely embraced this perspective to weave stories of their land, traditions and life. Indeed, for Aboriginal people, the aerial perspective is not just a style, but a storytelling tool.
Turquoise Overload
With the trip coming to an end and almost 7,000 km on the campervan odometer, I arrived in Broome. In 1883 the town of Broome was officially established, mainly to serve as a base for the growing pearl industry. Since this time, it has been a uniquely multicultural town. Aboriginal people and a small number of European pearlers were joined by workers from across the globe, particularly Japanese, Malay, Chinese, Filipino Timorse.
Broome is also famous for its dinosaur footprints which are recognised as the most significant of their kind in the world. The track ways stretch for about 80 km along Broome’s sandstone coastline from south of Broome up along the Dampier Peninsula. These were laid down during the early Cretaceous period; some 120 million years ago.
There are potentially over 20 different types of tracks: those of theropods, three toed carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs; sauropods, massive, long-necked four legged herbivores and others. But I mainly came here to photograph its vibrant turquoise water and red sand beaches in particular around Roebuck Bay and also to explore the Dampier Peninsula up to Cape Leveque which has this edge of the world feeling ideal to end this journey.
The Dampier peninsula north of Broome is home to a few aboriginal communities which I wanted to visit, and also many coastal inlets and bays with some stunning natural features, with many signs in the area that are very clear that it is croc land, so swim at your own risk. This was yet another palette of colors and shapes that perfectly completed this long but fascinating voyage.
Back to Reality
My goal was to venture into the most isolated areas of Australia to reconnect with nature and return to share my observations with the world. When I look back at my photos, I can really feel the remoteness of those landscapes, which makes the scenes even more powerful and moving.
This abstract journey also made me realise how much nature can create the most incredible art over time, without any human touch, which is a real treat for the soul and another testimony to its priceless beauty. Such picturesque landscapes truly captivate your imagination and demonstrate boundless creativity.
A tribute to Mother Nature that we, more than ever, need to protect and cherish across the globe for generations to come.
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