About

Who would I be without my family? My darling wife Gabi, my fantastic kids Annika, Max, Hope and Indiana. Together they support me in my hobby even though it means I leave them behind when I venture forth into unknown landscapes under the darkness of the night sky.

I was born and raised in Kalgoorlie, before coming to Perth to study at the University of Western Australia. I have been an engineer for over 20 years, specialising in control and automation systems for the mining industry in particular. What a great career it has been - mixing office based engineering with the occasional site stints for commissioning. I have worked in goldmines around Kalgoorlie and Leinster, coal mines near Collie as well as Curragh in Queensland, the port of Esperance, Dampier and Cape Lambert iron ore ports way up north, Gnangarra satellite earth station, numerous Water Corp dams, and even as far flung as Casablanca in Morocco.

But my heart lies not with engineering. Alone, deep into lands covered in darkness where there is no sign of other humans or their artificial constructs, where the only sound is the faint night breeze rustling my hair, and where the Milkyway arches overhead with its billions of stars so bright that I can see my shadow cast onto the ground - that is where my heart forever wanders.

I am a self-taught amateur astrophotographer dedicated to advancing my skill in night landscape photography through camera lenses, as well as deep sky photography through telescopes. I often seek the solitude of remote areas of the country where the night skies are made more profoundly beautiful with the absence of civilisation. Through passion, perseverance and experimentation, I have been successful in winning the Skywatcher Australia Astrophotographer of the Year 2024, Best Astrophoto Award in Astrofest 2023 and 2017, Astrofest Best Deep Sky Photo 2020, multiple commendations in various other competitions such as Australian Photographer of the Year, Epson Pano Awards, International Photographer of the Year, and have been featured in Channel 7 News, NASA's APOD, Australian Sky and Telescope, state and national newspapers, and amateur astrophotography magazines.