Hugh Brown Captures WA for Lumix Life

Lumix Life professional photography Hugh Brown journeys throughout WA to capture the heart and soul of Australia

Hugh Brown has been a professional photographer now for around six years. Much of his work over that time has taken place in some of Australia’s most remote areas: particularly the Kimberley and Pilbara regions. In more recent years, this work has expanded to incorporate remote areas in central and West Africa and the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Hugh has recently come back from shooting allover Western Australia armed with his Lumix G1. He’s had plenty of adventures including getting hit by a rogue wave and met lost of interesting people. Here are a couple of shots, be sure to check out his gallery for more tips and interesting stories.

Here are a couple of highlights from Hugh as he describes his, often perilous, journey:

Sunrise – Little Beach, Albany, WA

Shot with a Lumix G1

Nearly wrote off two cameras here. Western Australia’s south-west is notorious for its unexpected waves. Plenty of people have been killed while fishing the rocks in this part of the world. Sunrise. Bloody cold. Got too close to the water. Wave came out of nowhere. Managed to shield my open pelican case with my back as a huge wall of water came over the rock on which I was standing. Back got wet. Pelican case only a little.

It then became a battle for survival to relocate the open pelican case to higher ground while staying upright – I picked up a dose of concussion from a fall earlier in the day – and not dropping the cameras out of the pelican case. Another trip back to retrieve my Lowpro bag and then finally, a third trip to recover the tripod. Carnage threatened but was narrowly averted. Sun peaked through the clouds only temporarily but was fortunate in place to get the shot before catastrophe almost struck. And it would have been catastrophe too!

Kace Van De Gaag, Retired whale-boat skipper and gunnner, Albany WA

Shot with a Lumix G1

I met Kace in the front-yard of his Albany home. He is now 79 but skates around the steep hills of his home as if he were only 50. Kace was a skipper and gunner on one of the four whale-chaser boats that worked out of Albany up until whaling finished in the late 70s. He is seen here holding the tooth of a sperm whale beneath one of his old marine charts and next to an old shipping chest. He still sails to this day.

Lucky Bay, Esperance, WA

Shot with a Lumix G1

A beautiful part of the world. Here, I walked the three kilometers to the end of the beach and was greeted with this beautiful scene.The colour of the water here at Lucky Bay is amazing: especially when set against the white silica sand. I often find that colour is best shown when shooting at a ninety degree angle to the sun, as was the case here.

Dusk Light – Broomehill, WA

Shot with a Lumix G1

Here, I’d just jumped off a plane and was in the middle of a three hour drive to Manjimup. I was told about a series of beautiful salt lakes en route of which this was one. After negotiating an electric and barbed wire fence I spent about ninety minutes down on the shoreline shooting the changing light.

To see more of Hugh’s photos from around WA, along with other pro Australian LUMIX photographers visit www.lumixlife.com.au. Submit your own LUMIX photos and you have your photos published alongside the likes of Hugh Brown!