Wild Light: The photo book more than five decades in the making

27 September 2022

A new photography book seeks to share the vulnerability and beauty of Tasmania's wildest places.

Tasmanian landscape photographer Grant Dixon's newest book Wild Light is, like his previous publication, entirely self-published, and the result of more than five decades exploring the Tasmanian wilderness.

"Wild Light evolved from the way I view and understand landscapes," says Dixon.

Folder quartzite rock, Western Arthur Range, Tasmania. Image: Grant Dixon.

The new book, which launches in November but can be pre-ordered now, is an impressive stand-alone volume but also a companion piece to the photographer's 2020 photobook, Winter Light.

The trained earth scientist says while the images in Winter Light explored Tasmania's alpine regions in winter, he was keen to also showcase other aspects of the landscape; Tasmania's coast, cloaks of vegetation and rocky mountains, all in the grand Tasmanian tradition of landscape photography.

After a process that started with Dixon selecting many of his favourite images along with others he thought 'had merit' during a trawl of his Tasmanian image catalogue, the photographer settled on layouts that capture new and unique angles of the island-state.

Mossy roots of Sassafras tree embracing sandstone boulder, Great Western Tiers, Tasmania. Image: Grant Dixon.

The result is 95 stunning images in a 128 page book.

"This book has really been evolving for a very long time. In fact, the oldest image was captured in 1983, but the majority of the images have been captured during the last twenty years," he explains.

"I’ve lost count of the number of trips that might have been involved in capturing these photos. The trips have been mostly overnight, and a week or more duration in many cases, so a total of many hundreds of days in the Tasmanian bush, many visiting very remote locations, and often solo."

Quartzite peaks at dawn, southwest Tasmania. Of this image, Dixon says it exemplifies the wild ruggedness of the mountains of southwest Tasmania. "I first saw this view on one of my earliest 10-day bushwalks almost 47 years ago, before I became as keen on photography. This destination requires a week to access and return on foot, and while I had the compositional idea in mind, the lighting and atmospherics were serendipitous. A break in cloud lasting just a few minutes provided dawn light, and the valley fog drifting in from the west was a gift I could never have planned for." Image: Grant Dixon.

In many cases these trips were not just about capturing photographs, but simply being in wild places, many of which are threatened by challenges inconceivable when the first photos in the book were captured.

"Climate change is already affecting the landscape with an increase in lightning storm frequency and resultant wild fires," says Dixon.

"The other challenge is in the last decade or so there has been an increasing push for commercial development in national parks, both from within government and the tourism industry. In Tasmania, this has produced a number of proposals for lodges in remote and wild places."

These proposals pose a serious risk to the wildness of some areas, a major part of their attraction.

It makes Dixon's newest book a timely addition to Tasmania's rich landscape photography legacy, as well as a reflection of one man's reverence for the state's unique environment.

Wild Light, the hard cover, 30cm x 23.5cm, 128 page book, is printed on environmentally-friendly FSC-certified paper, and can be pre-ordered now at the pre-publication price of $85 (RRP will be $95). Dixon says he is relying on pre-orders to make publication viable.

The book will be available in November 2022. You can order your copy here.