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Veteran photographic team Stanley and Kaisa Breeden spoke to Robert Keeley about their latest project and the unusual techniques they use to create their remarkable images of life in the Australian rainforest.

Stanley Breeden’s connection to the far northern coastal strip of Queensland goes back decades. A working photographer since the late 1950s, he produced his first book about this region in 1970. He has since developed a range of books, as well as documentaries, about Australian and overseas flora and fauna.

Breeden worked for many years in India, but he’s always been drawn to the fantastically rich natural world that exists in the dense tropical rainforest regions along the far north coast of our northern state. More specifically, it’s the narrow strip of land between the Great Dividing Range and the mangrove-covered shoreline which has attracted him. This region runs from Cardwell in the south to Cape Tribulation in the north and encompasses the Atherton Tablelands behind Cairns. It proved so enticing that around 20 years ago Breeden built a house in the middle of it, near Malanda, just east of Atherton.

He has since immersed himself in learning about the animals and plants of the region, and recording them on film, but there came a time not so long ago when the veteran photographer almost gave away his quest to cover the region. He was frustrated with the limitations of film and its inability to record the wide range of contrast which can be encountered in the rainforest.

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