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There are a lot of different ways to approach the craft of photography, but the one overriding factor which every serious shooter should have is a passion for creating images. It also helps if they have a similar passion for their chosen subject matter. Scott Bridle grew up in the harsh, baking dry bush of southwest Queensland. But he loves the land, and suffered the pain of losing it when his parents had to divest themselves of a property which had been in the family for generations. He pressed on from that disappointment to forge a career as a helicopter pilot, mustering cattle and tackling a range of other station jobs to earn a dollar. And all along the way he pursued his other lifelong passion, taking photos wherever he worked – on the ground and later from the air. Recently, his two great interests coalesced with the release of a panoramic hard-cover book, Outback, made up of shots from his vast collection of landscapes, bush men and women.

In the northern regions of this country Bridle is rapidly earning a reputation beyond his undoubted skills as an aerial cattle musterer – one tied to his skills in using a camera. He’s had exhibitions, and given advice to groups about how to shoot good pictures, but he freely admits he’s in no way a technician. He uses minimal software adjustments, and really shoots opportunistically, often while he’s on the job. His images fit into the photo-documentary genre, though he’s also taken many evocative and abstract-style landscapes.

This story was first published in the Australian Photography + Digital May 2013 issue.

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