From the abstract beauty of outback mines to the patterns of salt lakes and swollen desert rivers, an aerial photography expedition has showcased remote South Australia like it's never been seen before.

Words Ben Kelly

During Apollo 8’s historic orbit of the moon in 1968, NASA astronaut William Anders’ breath was taken away when he caught a glimpse of a fragile blue orb floating in the vast abyss of space. Earth. “Hand me a roll of colour, quick,” said Anders before capturing his defining photograph, Earthrise, which forever altered human perspective of our home in the cosmos. The Catholic-raised astronaut later reflected that the experience of seeing his planet from the other side of the moon had challenged his religious beliefs.

More than 50 years since that first manned orbit of the moon, humankind is still fascinated with a perspective from above; looking inwards, rather than out.

It was not aboard a spacecraft, but a Cessna aeroplane hurtling through the atmosphere above remote South Australia, that three aerial photographers embarked on their own perspective-altering adventure in 2022.

The architect behind this expedition is local photographer David Dahlenburg. A fitter and turner by trade, David grew up on a farm in the small town of Napperby near Port Pirie, where his fascination with photography was sparked by an aerial print hanging on the wall of his grandparents’ farmhouse.

About six years ago, David met Port Pirie pilot Steve Joyce and ever since, the pair has been flying regularly, photographing the lands on which David grew up and travelled far and wide in his childhood. “Steve and I hit it off and we’re now great friends,” says David.

“When I first started talking to Steve about going to obscure outback locations, he’d ask: ‘What do you want to go out there for?’ It’s opened his eyes up to the landscape and a sense of adventure. I’ve now done more than 85 hours in the plane with him, which is huge.”

Coming to realise the beauty and rare variety that outback South Australia offers for aerial photography, David began planning a large-scale trip to photograph as much of it as possible, covering land rarely seen by people, let alone photographed from the air.

He reached out to specialist landscape photographers Paul Hoelen (Hobart) and Tim Wrate (Sydney) who both jumped at the concept and the bold artistic project – Altitude South – began to take flight. It is rare for aerial photographers to fly together, so this project offered a sense of camaraderie to what is otherwise a solo pursuit.

But then came a long period of false starts waylaid by Covid and bad weather. When they finally came together in 2022 – squeezed into the Cessna with cameras, lenses and the clothes on their backs – the four men set off from Port Pirie Airport for four long days of flying that would see them cover some 4000 kilometres of South Australia.

The difficulty was going to be fuelling up. “We wanted to go right out west towards Lake Gairdner and a large salt lake system, but we wouldn’t have enough fuel to get back. Steve phoned up all the station owners that he knew. On the first day we flew out to the northwest and filled up on a station owner’s farm,” says David.

“We landed on a dirt runway in the middle of nowhere, pulled up right next to the farmer’s kitchen window and pushed the plane into his shed to hand-pump fuel out of 44-gallon drums.

“We had finger buns and a cup of Nescafe with the station owner and his wife. We told them where we were going, and he said: ‘Actually, a mate of mine recently flew out a different way and saw these amazing pink salt lakes’. So, we made a 100-kilometre detour that turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

“Going out west was a gamble; you can’t really tell if the salt lakes will have any colour and it’s quite remote – not on the way to anywhere – but it paid off.”

They then flew to Birdsville, staying at the Maree Hotel each night and flying long days over far-flung areas including the Simpson Desert and Lake Eyre. With a weather system threatening to cut their trip a day short, they increased their flying hours.

“We flew up to nine hours a day just to cover the country we wanted to see. It was full-on but also a real adventure,” says David.

“We are all fairly tall guys in this tiny little plane. We landed on outback runways of station owners to get out and stretch our legs, have a quick bite to eat and then rotate seats. It was a dream run; every day we saw so much interesting stuff,” says David.

The photographers angled their lenses through an open window, which could only be unlocked once Steve had slowed down the plane. Otherwise, the force would rip the window straight off its hinges. They shot from different altitudes with different lenses. Gloves were a must at 4500 feet.

The scarification and colours created by mining and heavy industry form part of the abstract nature of Altitude South.

“It’s interesting how a blight on the landscape can also be so beautiful – there’s a contradiction and a grotesque beauty about some of these places,” says David.

The images bring the vast scale of human impact on outback South Australia – often so large to even comprehend – into focus.

“We are not activists; we’re taking photos for people to make up their own minds,” says David.

“It does make you think twice about consumerism and wastage. We all use these materials – I drive a car, my camera’s built with these precious metals and minerals, so we’re all part of it.”

Steve flew the group home via the Flinders Ranges, chased by a nasty weather system. It provided David with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture a thunderstorm over Wilpena Pound. “We could see lightning strikes off in the distance and these big shelf clouds rolling in, and it was just one of those moments you can never repeat,” says David.

“You would never choose to go up in that weather and in my lifetime, I mightn’t see anything like it again. There were dappled clouds where you had sunshine illuminating the peaks. It was just epic.”

In just four days, the trio shot 20,000 images.

But, as it turned out, they weren’t finished yet. When Channel Country flooded in April this year, the trio took another last-minute expedition that turned out to be, in some ways, even more spectacular than the first. Their total mileage clocked up to 8500 kilometres.

Paul – a decorated Grand Master of Photography who has photographed around the world – was blown away: “I’ve been doing this for 24 years and I’d have to say this was the best trip of my life,” says Paul.

The resulting body of work, Altitude South, is one of the most comprehensive aerial exhibitions of South Australia but also one of the most breathtaking. A book is in the making, while an exhibition at the Barossa Regional Art Gallery wowed gallery-goers in 2023.

“We don’t consider ourselves documentary photographers, it’s fine art photography,” says David.

“We aim to showcase the outback in an artistic way. Often, the images have no reference point. They’re interesting to look at, but when you look harder there’s a deeper meaning to them, which is often a bit mysterious.

“To have such a large body of work showcasing the state gives you a deeper sense of connection to the landscape. We’re excited to show people what’s out there, from a different point of view.”

This article first appeared in the June 2023 issue of SALIFE magazine.