There is something exciting about travelling somewhere new with a camera. New landscapes seem to demand our attention. We notice the shape of the mountains, the movement of the water, the changing light and all the little details that make a place different.
But sometimes the most rewarding discoveries are much closer to home.
I made this photograph at London Bridge, near Googong, not far from where we live. It is an extraordinary natural formation, carved by water over countless years, yet it sits quietly in a landscape that is easy to overlook when you are always thinking about the next big trip or spectacular destination.
On this visit, I was drawn to the enormous arch of rock stretching across the water. In black and white, the textures and shapes became even more prominent. The small rock sitting alone in the foreground provided a counterpoint to the immense weight of the formation behind it. It felt ancient, quiet and surprisingly remote for somewhere so close to home.
At the time, I had no idea how significant the idea of "close to home" was about to become.
Not long afterwards, COVID arrived and suddenly our world became much smaller. Travel disappeared. Plans were cancelled. For periods, simply going somewhere beyond our local area became difficult or impossible.
Like so many people, I began looking differently at the landscape around me.
Instead of thinking about all the places I couldn't visit, I started appreciating just how much there was to discover nearby. Country roads, rivers, foggy mornings, familiar hills, bushland, kangaroos at sunset and places like London Bridge were all waiting to be explored.
It made me wonder how often we overlook beauty simply because it is familiar.
We tend to associate discovery with distance. We imagine that adventure requires an airline ticket, a long drive or somewhere we've never been before. Yet there can be extraordinary places just beyond our front door. Sometimes all that is required is the decision to slow down, explore and really look.
Perhaps that is true almost everywhere in the world.
Every landscape has its hidden treasures. They may not appear on postcards or travel bucket lists. They might be a creek behind a suburb, an old tree beside a country road, a patch of bushland, a quiet beach or the way the afternoon light falls across a familiar hill.
Photography has taught me that beautiful places aren't necessarily rare.
Sometimes we just need to become better at seeing them.