Vale Richard Woldendorp

Instead of posters of celebrities decorating my teenage bedroom, I had prints of landscapes covering the walls. The works of Ansel Adams, Peter Dombrovskis and Richard Woldendorp had pride of place. These incredibly talented photographers have been a constant source of inspiration. I remember receiving Richard Woldendorp’s book, ‘Down to Earth’ for Christmas 1999 and being mesmerised by the patterns, textures and colours he captured.

Richard passed away at the age of 96 in early April this year. He was a true powerhouse and pioneer in the fine art aerial photography world. His visual exploration of Western Australia highlighted our State’s diverse beauty in a time before drones. Richard Woldendorp's descriptions of his work and motivation encapsulate an inquisitive passion for Australia: 

“The Australian landscape has always appealed to me.  There's something about it - its spaciousness, its character, the light and its uniqueness.  But it also is a very old landscape.  It is the flattest and driest continent, which compared with other countries, does not manifest itself in grandeur as we know it - large rivers, large mountains and the dramatic changes of the seasons.

However, I found that by looking at the landscape from the air, many characteristics revealed themselves much better and form a strong image not visible at ground level.  It shows the evolution and the geographical variations.  Australia also has large spaciousness, virtually unaffected by man, so it is possible to record millions of years of evolution in total.” https://www.richardwoldendorp.com/about

Amongst his many accolades was the W.A. State Living Treasure Award, for his outstanding contribution to the visual arts, his skill, talent and intensity as a photographer and his original and awe-inspiring vision of the Australian landscape. Richard was also awarded an Order of Australia “For service to the arts as an Australian landscape photographer” in 2012.

Vale Richard Woldendorp