Take an intimate journey through contrasting scenes of connection, resilience and play
The sun splits the clouds, casting gold on untouched sand. A few friends drift toward its glow, surfboards trailing, laughter fading. They settle where warmth lingers. Behind them, a boy lifts his lens, heart thundering, as the shutter clicks. A fleeting moment, captured forever, changes everything for the young photographer while they remain unaware.
I took this photo of my sister as she was moving goats around in a yard. The dust started billowing up so much so one could hardly see.
The power of perspective transforms the subject’s end of a tiring day of work into a captivating sight. Intertwined with street art, the photo reminds us that life’s dark alleys can be brightened and to believe that there’s beauty at the other end of even the worst days.
Max is the son I always dreamed of, perfect in my eyes, though he struggles with societal gender expectations and because of this, at just 4, he described feeling like his body was “broken". Now 8, Max finds comfort with friends who accept him for who he is.
This is one of the last service stations offering driveway service in NSW. Avery on the left is the driveway attendant. Next is Graeme who has owned the business for 55 years and has no intention of retiring. Katie and Mitchell have just started as apprentice mechanics
At my first surf boat competition, I took this photo from a pier running perpendicular to the beach, so that the photo shows the organised chaos of a boat carnival.
This photo was taken on the train back from Newcastle after a big day spent skating. Everyone was extremely tired; we hadn’t landed any good tricks. Regardless, we were still content and having fun. A trip to Newcastle as a group of young people is very unique to Australia.
This photo captures Pearle, a band made up of three close friends of mine, performing at Lazy Thinking — a hub for the local youth alternative music scene. The venue is small and intimate, and the use of a 22mm focal length draws the viewer into the tight, energetic atmosphere.
This photograph was taken during my VCE media folio. It captures the rawness of a teenage boy standing before a concrete mural in a small country town, slowly adapting and blending into his surroundings. This image encapsulates what it's like being an Australian teenager living in and adjusting to low-populated rural towns.
This image captures the mystery and intrigue of the ocean's often unseen world through a fleeting moment where our everyday Australian world is engulfed by the ocean's power.
From a series entitled The Community Cup that documents the 2024 Louth Cup, the largest outback race meet in NSW. It features the official volunteer timers as the horses cross the line during one of the 7 races in the program. The whole event is almost entirely volunteer-run.
The daily commute is a part of life for many of us, yet also a fleeting moment we tend to forget. While waiting for the next train, a passenger is captured sitting on the bench, taking a phone call as an express train rushes by.
Taken on Pitt as the light was fading. George Street was as lively as it gets and the stark contrast only a street over compelled me to take this photo.
Purple Threshold is a defiant work, where bold purple contrasts urban grit to reflect resilience. Graffiti and passing cars evoke layered realities of Australian city life. This fleeting moment captures youth and individuality, with the purple threshold symbolising a gateway to hidden stories shaping contemporary Australian identity and strength.
Chris lost his home in the catastrophic floods of 2022.
Due to being flood affected and the ongoing housing crisis in Lismore, he’s been occupying a government buy back house. He recently received an eviction notice to vacate the premises, leaving him with no other options for housing.
On this scorcher of a day, Adelaide topped the charts as the hottest city on Earth. While the kids watched on, it was the poodle who stole the show—charging through the spray like a beast unleashed, ears flying, water everywhere. Pure joy in motion, beating the heat in true Aussie style.
My 3 sons in the bath, determined to still fit in there together.
From the ongoing series 'Brothers', a visceral journey of childhood, navigating the emotional landscape of siblings. A journey of transformation, connection and becoming.
Young drovers in rural Australia spend months on horseback moving cattle, far from modern distractions. Sleeping in trailers and riding 12-hour days, they face isolation, injury risks and financial loss. Many quit early, but a few, like Riley Swanson, endure the harsh, romanticised life on remote, decades-old stock routes.
Acceptance is elusive and the very need for it is disputed by the middle way of chaos and control.
Each element within this world is placed and carefully curated over months of world-building among the wind, flies and unusual sandy heat.
At the end of last year, we said goodbye to a favourite farm companion, one of the nicest-natured horses I have had the pleasure to know. Merriwa was a sweetheart and that was an absolute bummer of a day. Here my daughter Eugenie says farewell.
Captured over the summer holidays, this photo shows an Australian family enjoying a picnic, with the father smoking a traditional hookah. Part of the Summer Highway series, it reflects the vibrant blend of cultural traditions and Australian beach life, where families picnic, play and connect.
Enter Sabio's Tasmanian world of handmade objects: fantastical, grotesque, visceral, often pulling the carpet from beneath you. Opposite sides of Sabio are captured here. In 2022, Sabio's world was upturned by aggressive cancer, a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. She rose fantastically from the ashes.
Louie and Max met for the first time minutes before this image was taken. In between changing film rolls, the boys compared scars and spoke about masculinity.
Every Wednesday during summer, at dawn, a group of revellers who call themselves Cold Nips, gather for a dip in the Indian Ocean to start their day. The red pontoon at South Beach in Fremantle is not only a local icon but an invitation to climb, jump or dive no matter your age.
Self portrait of my son and I, after another lonely sleepless night. Sleep deprivation can be so crippling. And with bed-sharing the only thing that brought reprieve, shame was often an emotion that was felt, due to social pressures and expectations on how to be a good mum.
Melbourne’s beloved Gasometer Hotel was a maze of graffiti-covered walls, sticky beer-stained stairways, and a dancefloor beneath a retractable roof—and for this party at least, a clothesline. When word spread the venue was closing, friends and lovers gathered for one last dance, one final night of music, memories and movement before the wrecking ball arrived.
Alice’s 8-year-old daughter Frieda is one of thousands of children in Australia experiencing ‘school can’t’ – difficulty attending school due to emotional distress, sometimes linked to neurodiversity. “It’s a really lonely and confusing and shameful world because you assume that you are the problem,” the Sydney mum said. This image was taken as part of a 2024 ABC Four Corners investigation, in collaboration with filmmaker Sascha Ettinger-Epstein.
In the midst of an Australian heatwave, 27 year-old Jarryd couldn't help but to cool off. So what better way to do so than to crack a cold one... all over himself. While unconventional and messy, it serves as a satisfying reward after a hard day’s work.
Captured this frame during the crowded Ramadan Nights at Lakemba this year. It was very interesting to see how the person was indulged completely preparing the dish. Light and smoke was apt, even in the crowd I was lucky to get a glimpse of it and captured the frame.
Late in 2024, I picked up an old digital camera with a CCD sensor to see what the hype was about. A few weeks later, while my partner Fiona was making coffee, I casually snapped this photo from the couch. I didn’t think much of it—until a month later, when looking for a submission for Australian Life, I realised how much it captured. This image distils the best parts of my life in Sydney – moments that have become my fondest memories.
See the finalists up close in a large format outdoor gallery, outside Customs House from Thursday 31 July to Sunday 24 August.
Vote for your favourite: voting for the People's Choice Award will be open from 31 July to 17 August.
Published 10 July 2025
