Below are some written comments, displayed at the photographic exhibition "Outback Celebration".

Photograph: "Uluru by Champagne"

It was a striking experience when I captured the sudden vision of glasses with champagne and the reflection of Uluru within them. The majestic beauty of the giant rock, the sacred icon of the land, its sunset glow of red colour floating in the bubbling wine, for me blended together ancient and modern, sacred and ordinary symbols of celebration. For me Uluru became a very special place, spiritually and sensuously, as it is for the Aboriginal people.

Photographs: Australian Outback - landscape

While I have seen and photographed images of sunsets or sunrises and their reflections in the water many times, it is always a very special time for me and I am moved when surrounded by colours, textures, patterns and sound. (Outback)

Against the soft surreal glow of the white ghost gums of the red centre, the deep Palm Valley offers a striking contrast with its lushness of green and the sound of trickling water. The walk among smooth rocks, crystal water pools, reflected spinifex, palms and trees was a pure joy. (Central Australia)

"The Cazneaux Tree - The Spirit of Endurance" is named after Harold Cazneaux, the Australian photographer who captured it in 1937. This giant tree grabbed my attention too, maybe because I admire Cazneaux and also have great passion for gum trees. This particular tree has become more scarred and marked by the elements - storm, fire and water - than Cazneaux described 60 years ago. I hope my image reflects Cazneaux advice: "place all your effort, not in mere technique, but more so in perfection of the art of selection and creative ideas in subject matter". (South Australia)

The vast area of the Kimberley in north Western Australia is famous as the land of boabs (baobabs), the bottle trees. Those giant trees, often with unique or grotesque and squat shapes, have many Aboriginal legends. Some trees were used by white settlers, infamously, as temporary "natural" prisons. Boabs are covered by masses of flowers and foliage during the wet season providing people and animals with shelters. The roots may provide water for the parched traveller and during the dry season the rich seed pods with their sweet lemon taste were eaten by the local people. (Kimberley, Western Australia)

Spinifex is a big spiky and prickly grass, which covers some two thirds of the vast Australian Outback landscape primarily in areas of low rainfall. The dense, dome-shaped mass of long, needle-like leaves grow on sandy, red soils and rocky areas. In Kimberley I learnt that Aboriginal people used to use spinifex to extract wax. (Outback)

Fitzroy River is visually a very inspiring place. Here, beneath the towering white walls of Geige Gorge, I learnt about Aboriginal life, customs, bush tucker, plants and medicine through stories told me by young Jarragugi from the Bunuba tribe. (Kimberley, Western Australia)

I find Purnululu spiritual and sensuous. It is one of the best photographic areas I know, but it is very difficult to capture on film the real life experience of a walk among those monstrous and magnificent Purnululu domes. (Kimberley, Western Australia)

Discovering the seashores of northern Australia was a very special experience. Strolling along famous Cable Beach in Broome with the softness of the sunset, gave me fulfilment and joy with the taste of salty air and the sea sound all around me. Wandering along the white sandy beaches, their contrasts of red cliffs and striking blue water and sky at Cape Leveque and Cape Villaret deeply moved me. The beauty of those places reminded me of paradise. (Kimberley, Western Australia)

I flew right to the top of Cape York, then visited Thursday Island by boat, and travelled by 4WD car-tour to the south and Cairns. First, it was very dry, dusty country, then it became tropical. At each stop near water I had a swim. Some waterfalls were just visual delights, others useful "massage machines". Some smaller creeks created mysterious, hidden places of solitude. (Cape York, Queensland)

I have always admired the diversity of plants and flowers I encountered in the Outback, to see the vibrant colours, spectacular textures, patterns and shapes. At the tropical north the visual delight literally took my breath away. The water lilies, with striking flowers and floating mats of leaves, are prized by Aboriginal people as a food. Its root stock is dug out of the mud and eaten either raw or cooked. (Outback)

I spent five days of my journey on Magnetic Island where I walked the coastline, mountain and forest. The simplicity of the landscape with its many shades of blue water, land and sky gave me a feeling of peace and the power to realise more of my dreams. (Magnetic Island, Queensland)

Photographs: Australian Outback - people

On my Outback wanderings I met Jack, a bushman from Pine Creek, NT, who is a brother of my Australian friend, Daphne (I met her during my Alaska journey). I sat with Jack and his cattlemen friends under a star-filled sky on Daly River and talked quietly about this land. Another time we sat with Gayle, his partner, on a bush house veranda near Pine Creek and talked about the Gold Rush times. We also drank billy tea in Jack's bush camp and talked about the didgeridoo he is making and his relationship with Aboriginal people. Jack is a sensitive, sincere man with a very interesting, rich and colourful life. I felt his spirit and peaceful nature touch me so much that I hope I will see him again. (Pine Creek, North Territory)

I spent two days on Bathurst Island to the north of Darwin with the Tiwi people. It was a most emotional experience for me. I met friendly, open people, happy to share their knowledge and joy, and the spiritual significance of their people and land and on the first day my spirit was "cleaned" by their smoke dance. I met Samuel, a Tiwi Elder from whom I bought a sculpture, a standing pelican, and a bark painting, representing a part of the Tiwi legend. He was very happy to accept in return a number of photographs taken by myself and others. Two Tiwi women, Doreen and Rhonda, taught me to paint shells using the different crushed traditional ochres and their traditional symbols. I believe their openness and acceptance of being photographed is obvious in these images. Bathurst Island, North Territory)

When I arrived in Wyndham I found I was in the right place at the right time and was able to meet the right local people. It was my luck. I met a young, beautiful Aboriginal girl, Sammie, who introduced me to her mother, Nancy, brothers, sisters and several other family members. She told me the Aboriginal stories about the boabs, and took me to her favourite spot, Wyndham "Five River Point" at sunset. Its golden light shone on the gum trees and vast landscape of mudflats. It was a photographic paradise. I spent many late night hours with Sammie and her family enjoying the Munumburra Aboriginal Festival, sitting with them on the blankets, talking, laughing and dancing on the grass. It was a wonderful family and community celebration highlighted by Archie Roach's concert. (Kimberley, Western Australia)

I was in Broome, the capital of the colourful pearling industry, during the Festival of Pearl - Shinju Matsuri. I was impressed by the community effort in the street parade, which presented their diverse multicultural society. The children from St.Mary's College represented several different multicultural communities including those from Aboriginal groups. (Kimberley, Western Australia)