Pandanus

When I moved back to Australia in 2024, I had two big moves within six months. First, moving back home with my family. Then, a second move to a new town an hour north of where I grew up. Two massive transitions in a short space of time. I took a break from photography for a while. Slowly, after settling into our new place in Cabarita Beach, I started to explore. I became obsessed with Norries Headland, shooting mostly in the water. I never really photographed much from the shore, but I had a new long lens and I found myself drawn to the pandanus palms and their silhouettes. Over the next couple of months, I played with photographing the palms around my new home. The golden sparkles on the sea, the surfers moving through the frame, the tangled branches of the pandanus. This image was taken as I was leaving the beach after shooting on the headland for an hour. I noticed the palms catching the morning light and spent half an hour trying to frame them just right, the silhouettes, the golden glow, the surfers weaving through the nooks of the palms. It’s interesting when you develop a visual style based on a place you lived in for so long, after six years in Mexico, I was so used to the colour, the sunsets, the warmth of the water, the tropical palm trees. Coming back to Australia, I was working with different light, new landscapes, and trying not to lose the soul of my style that I'd developed in Mexico. I love this shot because it feels like a moment where all of that came together. A photograph that holds change, light, observation, and a new kind of home.