Story
Where the wild meets wonderful
words Heidi HELBIG
PHOTOGRAPHY pete thornton
From 4,000 feet in the air, landscape photographer David Dahlenburg sees the world in exquisite detail.
His ground-breaking aerial photography not only captures the singular beauty and diversity of the South Australian landscape; it is also a thought-provoking insight into the footprint we leave behind.
The father-of-three has travelled to some of the most remote parts of the State to capture the interplay between nature and humanity.
“It’s awesome to explore the art of aerial photography but also pose the question, ‘is there a better way of doing things?’,” says David.
His evocative images of the decommissioned Port Augusta coal power station saw him named the 2019 South Australian Emerging Photographer of the Year by the Australian Institute of Professional Photography.
“I was reading about industrial aerial photography and thought, what a way to start by documenting something in my own backyard,” says David.
“Those photos ask that question – ‘what’s the real price of the things we take for granted, that we can’t see from behind the fence?’
“It’s still relevant now, as the climate wars and the debate about coal and gas keep raging.”
The multi award-winning photographer is among the few people to capture the tailing dams that stretch for kilometres across extractive mining sites in the far north of the state.
The waste by-products from extracting precious metals like uranium and lead leave a permanent, other-worldly imprint on the landscape.
“The term I use is ‘beautiful grotesque,” says David.
“I’m not trying to be an activist, but I’m in a unique position to fly to these locations and show people the environmental impact that happens hundreds of kilometres away from where most people live.
“It does make you think about consumerism and the role that we play.”
Those photos earned him the title Australian Geographic Photographer of the Year in the 2024 Portfolio prize, arguably one of the highest honours for a photographer.
“Where a lot of photo competitions allow composite images, Australian Geographic is quite strict, more pure I guess. It rewards people like me, who still want the photo to be what I saw,” says David.
He relies on the use of contrast to draw the viewer to a focal point.
“You have to learn what captures people’s attention, and contrast does that,” says David. “It’s lightening the light tones and darkening the dark tones to give a focal point.
“I’m saying, ‘look here, this is what I want to show you’.
“This project has been beyond my wildest dreams of success; what we achieved is amazing.”
- David Dahlenburg
Without a doubt, David’s greatest achievement is Altitude South, a rich visual collaboration with fellow Australian photographers Tim Wrate and Paul Hoelen.
The trio set out to capture some of the most remote and untouched places in South Australia. It was a journey that would take them 8500 kilometres in a Cessna 182 expertly piloted by Steve Joyce, without whom the project would not have been possible.
Having photographed natural and built landmarks around the globe, including Egypt, Peru and the United States, David still believes South Australia’s beauty is unparalleled.
“SA is super diverse – that’s what really made the project unique,” says David. “There’s beautiful photos of Spencer Gulf, the salt farms of Whyalla, the industrial mines up north, Channel Country, and the rugged beauty of Flinders, Wilpena Pound and Arkaroola, all in one state.”
David, who grew up in the foothills of the southern Flinders Ranges, recalls a defining moment as they flew into a thunderstorm over Wilpena Pound.
“The pilot went super quiet – he was concentrating on navigating the approaching storm – and we were just all smiles from ear to ear, knowing we would never see anything like this again,” says David.
“You’d never choose to go up in a storm like that, but to see it was just magical.”
Distilling 60,000 photographs into 60 hero images, the Altitude South collection captures the wonder of nature in all its diversity and complexity.
“What strikes me is that from the land you don’t see it, but from the sky you see it all; an ancient canvas that has been carved over millions of years. And the scale; as far as you can see, there’s no human landmarks,” says David.
“Because there’s no reference point, it becomes abstract, so the viewer can interpret it as they like.
“This project has been beyond my wildest dreams of success; what we achieved is amazing.”
With an upcoming SALA collaboration with painters Stuart Hoerisch and Georgia Ivens, David hopes people who experience his photography ultimately remember not what they saw, but how it made them feel.
“I give talks at photography clubs and a lot of people are interested in the rules of photography; they want to know about the mechanics and what settings I use,” says David, a past president of Barossa Photography Club.
“I’m more about the aesthetic, the story telling and the emotional impact when they look at the scene.
“I’m amazed by the impact art can have on people. There is no greater compliment than when someone chooses to hang one of my photos on their wall.”
