"A pink tomb" photographed by Dr James Dorey.
Biological sciences academic Dr James Dorey, from the College of Science and Engineering, has earned plaudits for his photography in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition for 2022
Dr Dorey was awarded winner of the Botanical category, for his photograph “A pink tomb”. He explained the image, taken at Lake Crosbie in Victoria, by saying: “Darkness rolls over Lake Crosby adding an eerie element to the smooth pink salt. All that falls on the lake is slowly preserved as the wind-driven tide ebbs and flows, leaving a little more salt every time. Objects mar the lake’s alien texture and the lake mars them in return.”
He was also shortlised in the Animals in Nature category for his photograph “The long lady”. Dr Dorey says: “This lady is just doing what’s best for her children. She is providing them with a safe place to grow up and food to go with it. Sure, that might mean that a few bees must die, but a parasitoid has got to do right by her kids first.”
SA Museum prepared a video stream of all the award winners, featuring Dr Dorey, which can be viewed online: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSAMuseum
Dr Dorey’s two shortlisted photos are also available to view here: https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/c/npoty/gallery.
While Dr Dorey says he hasn’t much planned for nature photography this year, citing too much time being dedicated to research projects, he recently managed to shoot images of some glowworms and spiders. “I’ve wanted to do these for a while. I still want to go back and do better, but there’s only so much time in the day.”