Australian Landscape Photography by Nick Rains

My Equipment

Hi, I'm Nick Rains and this is me in the photo above. It was taken a while back on Cable Beach in Broome, WA when I was shooting my first book, on the Kimberley. I'm a bit greyer around the hairline now but this image sums up for me what I enjoy about my role as a landscape photographer - being outdoors, following the road less travelled and looking for fine images to share with others.

I started off in photography almost straight out of Swansea University in South Wales where I studied Zoology. I picked up the basics by going out and using film, and by reading photography books like that wonderful series by Ansel Adams. I didn't do any formal training until a few years later when I did a 2 year Tech course on studio and commercial photography.

Commercial photography was well paid and reasonably interesting but I soon got more interested in travel photography so, like many others were starting to do, I shouldered a backpack and headed off into Asia and thence to Australia.

New Zealand on the MV Orion

In Australia I started working for Canon during the 1986 America's Cup in Fremantle. This was where I met many the top international photographers and magazine editors who were all very helpful to a young photographer starting out in serious international work.

I had a ball during the 12 months I spent in Perth, my work was published in Sports Illustrated, London Times, Paris Match, Stern and many other well known publications. I worked for Time Magazine for a while as an assistant and learned a whole load of stuff about what professional photography is all about.

Of course my Visa finally ran out and I headed back to England. My new contacts stood me in good stead and this period was when I fully developed my landscape photography by undertaking extended trips into Germany, Turkey, Italy, France, and Spain shooting for the stock photography market.

Finally I decided to move back to Australia for good in 1990 and have been shooting this fabulous country ever since. I have travelled almost half a million kilometers in that time and have been to just about every major place on interest. In fact the only major places I have yet to visit are Cape York and along the Canning Stock Route WA.

Simpson Desert

This is one of the reasons I love this job - I get to go the some of the remotest places in this huge country, far away from the busy cities and into a place where you can quite literally roll out a swag, light a fire and sleep under the stars. I'm a big fan of clouds too - sounds a bit weird I know but clouds make a photo your own since they will never be the same the next time you visit the same spot. I'm also a fully paid up member of the Cloud Appreciation Society which pledges:

To fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.

and

Through my previous Rainspirit Gallery in Brisbane, and now via this website, my prints grace the walls of homes and offices in 25 different countries around the world. Being widely published is very satisfying but having your work appreciated for its own qualities through print sales is probably the ultimate goal for any serious photographer.

Over the years I have worked with the Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism NSW, Penguin Books, Readers Digest Books, Shell Petroleum, BBC TV, Sports Illustated, World Heritage Commission, Australian Geographic plus many more.

In recent years I have been involved with teaching and writing. I have been submitting articles to Better Photography and Better Photoshop Techniques since 2005, and in 2009 I took over the Editorship of Better Digital Camera magazine.

I have a constant stream of speaking engagements these days, and conduct the occasional workshop in places like the Kimberely and Kakadu. These have been very popular and people want to 'travel with a purpose' more and more.

Mount Borradaile in Arnhenland

Lady Elliot Island

Shooting time-lapse in Kakadu