Altitude south
Altitude South is a marvellously rich visual project created by intrepid Australian aerial photographers David Dahlenburg, Tim Wrate, and Paul Hoelen. An ambitious project over 2 years in both the planning and execution, the photographers travelled over 8500km around some of the remotest areas of South Australia in a small Cessna over a meticulously planned route to capture images of some of the least known and photographed features and areas of the state.
In coming together for this collaboration, the photographers aimed create images that not only inspire but bring a certain level of intrigue - and a sense of wonderment for a world so magnificent, diverse, and complex. The photographs are abstract, yet they are also real pictures of the landscape that explore the broader cultural, historical, and modern legacy written into the raw and powerful landscape of South Australia.
The images are the photographers’ interpretations and visual responses to the land that unfolded below them - some metaphorical, some literal. It may seem whimsical, but if you look a little harder, you can see ghosts in dried salt lakes, lightening striking across the sky in the ancient lakebed, or rivers in the ocean.
The images investigate not only the organic interplay between land, water, wind, and rain, but also the heavy-handed devastation and conflicting beauty of the human impact on the environment.
In photographing for Altitude South, the photographers aimed to look past the obvious. The challenge was to see beyond the distraction of the conspicuous to capture unique reflections of their journey. Some of the subjects are quite beautiful, others less so. The goal of the project is to inspire people look more carefully at the world around them, to discover beauty in unusual places and to see South Australia like they’ve never seen it before.
To see more about the project click the tab below
