Ugly looks better from up here

BY MARIA TSIALIS

For most, the idea of hanging out of a low-flying plane in remote parts of Australia is, at the very least, terrifying.
Richard Woldendorp does it for a living.
At 81 years of age, Dutch-born Woldendorp is a pioneer of aerial photography. His photographs of Australia’s wide, vast landscape look almost like surrealist paintings.
Waldendorp grew a passion for aerial photography after flying over his home state of Western Australia in the in the late 1950’s. He says that despite covering much of the country, there are still many untapped areas of Australia he wants to visit.
‘I think that because it is flat the aerial perspective, you can see distance, you can impress with the extent of the landscape, because there are so few roads in most of the outback areas, you never see the same thing twice flying,’ Woldendorp said.
‘It takes a long time to appreciate everything that is there.
‘I’d like to complete pictures of Australia, I think there are too many landscapes that I haven’t been successful with or haven’t completed. There are even areas in Australia that I haven’t even seen, so I want to continue this process.’
While preferring to photograph remote areas in places like the Northern Territory and far North Queensland, Waldendorp has also photographed urban landscapes. He says that although places like the Sydney CBD have been called ‘ugly’, they are transformed in the air.
“You sometimes see failures of good design from the air, you can see that as well as you can see good design from the air,’ he said.
‘The aerial point of you adds to the information that you get about a city, and yes sometimes it shows the ugliness and sometimes it shows the beauty.’
Despite pioneering aerial photography for over 40 years, Waldendorp has no plans for retirement.
‘I’m taking it easier than I did in the past’I will do it in my time and when the conditions are right. I’m not rushing through it,’ he said.
Richard Waldendorp’s revolutionary photographs of the Australian landscape are currently featured in a major exhibition of his work at the National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery at Observatory Hill in The Rocks, until August 3.