Richard Woldendorp
Think Richard Woldendorp's aerial photographs have been heavily Photoshopped? You'd be wrong.
"I don't need to," the 81-year-old Woldendorp tells Time Out, "because there is already so much natural beauty in the land itself."
By Biwa Kwan
The Dutch-born artist takes abstract shots of the Australian landscape from a light plane, 1500 metres up. A pioneer of aerial photography with 40 years' experience, Woldendorp was made a Western Australian State Treasure in 2004, and is the author of 16 books.
"I always wanted to be a landscape painter," he says. Ending up a house painter, he dabbled in photography, discovered the thrill of aerial photography, and never looked back. "It's fascinating because there is so much variety in the air, which is not always apparent from the ground."
He's fascinated by the tenacity of flora and fauna in adapting to the arid conditions of inland Australia ("there is no real desert in Australia," he says). The landscapes of other countries don't interest him: back in the Netherlands, he won't even take happy snaps.
The photographs recall both Rothko and Aboriginal paintings that tell the story of the land. A combination of intuition and technical experience helps him to discern ‘the moment'. "I don't take a lot of shots," he says. "We flew for 10 days straight recently and I only took 485 shots. A lot of people would take that many photos in one day."
At 81, he has no intention of keeping his feet on the ground. "I will keep on going until I can't."
Abstract Earth: Photography by Richard Woldendorp is showing at S H Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, until August 3.