As one of those people who points out oddly shaped clouds and stares for hours until the very last bit of sunlight has left the sky, I love photographing colours and patterns.

Living on a tropical island in Australia’s Whitsunday Islands as a landscape photographer for six years, I was surrounded by natural formations of sand and sea. From my window I could watch the tide change the landscape within a few hours, from glistening blue water to shallow sand banks.

The Great Barrier Reef stretches for more than 2300km along the Queensland coastline, my photography project ‘Palettes’ focused on Hardy and Bait Reefs along with the tidal gem of Hill Inlet. Each location was a 20 minute helicopter flight from where I was based on Hayman Island and I could track the weather to make sure conditions were literally picture perfect before I took off.

Flying high with the doors off I hung out the window with my camera to ensure there were no reflections in the images and no matter how many times I saw it, the beauty of these locations took my breath away every time. That or the fact my head was being battered by the wind. Pretty sure it was the landscape though.

The collection of images below were taken over a two year period and aim to showcase the natural elements of sand and sea. The sandy shores of Hill Inlet are constantly changing with the tides and wind creating new banks or ripples on the sea floor, from the air it’s like a painted canvas.

And just to keep it fun…there is a jumping dolphin in one of the shots below. See if you can find it.

More info: thewanderinglens.com

Heart Reef

Hill Inlet at high tide

Hook Island where the rainforest meets the reef

Hill Inlet at low tide

Bait Reef Blues

Changing Tides in the Coral Sea

Hill Inlet with a strawberry heart pattern

Shallow sand bank within Hardy Reef

Hardy Reef

A wide angle of Hardy Reef

Hill Inlet’s patterns in shallow water

A dingy within Hill Inlet

When Sharks + Stingrays decide to dine together

Hardy Reef in its entirety from 1000ft

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