In Focus: The KI Photo Safari

December 1, 2019

Located a hop away from the South Australian mainland, Kangaroo Island is most celebrated for its pristine natural environment and abundant native wildlife. With more than a third of the island protected in 30 national conservation parks, ‘KI’ (as the locals call it) is renowned as Australia’s own Galapagos, making it a natural attraction for artists and photographers.

With a landscape as diverse as it is wild, photographers had the chance to capture breathtaking images of the islands rugged mallee scrub and beautiful Eucalyptus groves, stretches of farm pasture and rugged coastline, towering cliffs and stunning turquoise bays fringed by white sandy beaches. It’s an island of unparalleled wild beauty.

Likened to a ‘zoo without fences’, Kangaroo Island’s wildlife roams freely in its own micro-ecology, thanks to its isolation from the mainland. The island provides a rich, sustainable and protected habitat for a variety of animals and birds, with many species now endemic to KI.

In the first week of August 2019 Southern Ocean Lodge hosted the inaugural KI Photo Safari, a four-night interactive photographic expedition traversing the dramatic landscape. A group of just ten keen photographers captured KI’s remarkable wilderness alongside renowned travel photographer and Canon Master, Richard I’Anson.

“Guests had exclusive access to Seal Bay Conservation Park at sunrise to see sea lions riding waves to shore, waddling about and basking in the warmest sun spots on the sand.”

Richard regularly accompanies keen photographers on dedicated trips in remarkable destinations, helping with the technical and creative aspects of travel and landscape photography through informal tuition and feedback. This was Richard’s first photographic expedition at Southern Ocean Lodge.

With more than 30 years’ experience as a travel photographer, Richard is recognised at the top of his field, amassing a compelling collection of images of people and places in more than 90 countries. Richard’s work has been published in magazines, newspapers and books around the world including Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography, and he is also one of five photographers selected for the National Geographic’s television documentary Tales by Light, now screening on Netflix.

The KI Photo Safari itinerary explored Kangaroo Island’s most photogenic natural icons, with the chance to get up close and personal with wildlife including sea lions, fur seals, koalas and kangaroos.

With the lodge as luxury basecamp, photographers ventured to the 500 million-year-old granite formations known as Remarkable Rocks. Intricately carved by the sea and wind and covered in bright orange lichen, the group captured the rocks when they’re most magical – at both sunrise and sunset. Sunset drinks and canapes served onsite completed a superb day in the field.

Other sites included the red-crowned sentinel of the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse and the distinctive rock bridge of Admirals Arch, home to a colony of New Zealand fur seals. A visit to the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary presented the opportunity to shoot snoozing koalas relaxing high in the Eucalypt trees.

Guests had exclusive access to Seal Bay Conservation Park at sunrise to see sea lions riding waves to shore, waddling about and basking in the warmest sun spots on the sand. A predawn start was rewarded with a gourmet barbecue breakfast cooked by the lodge chef at Bales Beach.

“The event proved to be an extraordinary combination of photography and discovery amid the pristine wilderness of Kangaroo Island.”

Southern Ocean Lodge has its own photogenic attributes and guests captured the property from all angles including from a clifftop walk where the sensitive design of the lodge appears to blend seamlessly into the coastal landscape.

The event proved to be an extraordinary combination of photography and discovery amid the pristine wilderness of Kangaroo Island. As Richard I’Anson says, “At its most basic, travel photography merely provides a visual record of the places visited. At its best it gives an insight into the world at large in all its diversity, adding something new to our understanding of a place and the people (or animals!) who live there.”

Join Richard on a brand new photographic journey exploring the timeless landscape of Uluru Kata Tjuta from October 1-5, 2020. Find all the details here Uluru Photo Safari 2020.