Adam Monk Photo Tours

Following on from my previous 2 posts on why I don’t shoot on my Karijini photo tour

Only 4 participants and a Landcruiser

I only take 4 participants on my Karijini photo tour, it’s a very small group by any tour standard, and the perfect number to fit into just one Landcruiser with camera gear. The Landcruiser is a lot more comfortable on the terrible roads within and around Karijini than the smaller Toyota Prados or Pajeros that you can normally hire locally. The Landcruiser is much roomier, especially the leg room, and the better suspension makes for a smoother ride on gravel roads with corrugations and the odd pothole…

Following on from my previous post on why I don’t shoot on my karijini Photo tours Part 1

Why don’t I shoot on my Karijini Photo tour? (Part 2)

The other reason I don’t shoot while on my Karijini Photo Tour is about limited room at locations. Many of the locations in Karijini are narrow and shooting spots are few, so just 4 participants is the ideal number, especially without me hogging the best spot (not that I would do that anyway). If I don’t even carry camera gear then the temptation to shoot is completely removed. I get my photography fix vicariously by ensuring all of my group get their best shots.

After many years running my Karijini Photo Tour as a private tour I have finally gone ahead and put it out for general release. Just like my private Karijini photo tours previously, I have kept it to just 4 participants, and I don’t do any shooting, just mentoring.

My Karijini Photo Tour for April 2023 is out and ready to book, actually its already half full. Since this tour is for an exclusive group of just 4 participants it means there are only 2 spots left.

You can see all the details for the 2023 tour HERE>> and if you have any questions feel free to email me at tours@adammonk.com or give me a call on +61 415 854 179.

Where was this image shot?

The Image above is Dales cascades, one of the locations we shoot on tour. This image was shot on my pre tour reccie (before a private tour) 2 years ago, with the Phase One IQ3-100 digital back on the Cambo WRC400.

Spa Pool Hamersley Gorge, Karijini National Park

This image was shot on my last trip to the Pilbara in the middle of last year, Spa Pool is a small rock pool (about the size of a big spa) in Hamersley Gorge which is part of Karijini National Park.  A lot of visitors to the park skip Hamersley Gorge since you have to drive quite a way outside the park to get there.  It looks inviting doesn’t it?  Like it would be nice to sit in, as the name suggests?  I have seen people swim in Spa Pool… Briefly. It’s very very cold.

This image was shot in the early pre-sunrise light of dawn, so there was no sunlight bouncing around causing havoc with the shadows.  At that time of day the light is still directional as the eastern part of the sky (where the sun is about to rise) Read the rest of this entry »

Another image from my favourite gorge in one of my favourite places, Hamersley Gorge Karijini National Park.  This image was shot in the early morning before the sunlight enters the gorge and burns out all the colours in the rocks and the water.  Because Hamersley Gorge is outside the main part of the Karijini National Park, not only does it receive less visitors, but they also arrive much later,  so few people see this spectacular gorge in the most beautiful light of pre sunrise or twilight.

I know a secret little campsite nearby, so I can get there very early in the morning and I usually have this gorge to myself (and the birds and wallabies) for many hours before the first visitors arrive for the day.  This feels like an enormous privilege, one I enjoy immensely.

This image shot on the Hasselblad H5D-50 with the HCD 28mm Lens

Karijini National Park is one of the true gems of Western Australia, or the world really.  It’s like nowhere else on Earth I have ever been, especially Hamersley Gorge, which is the place that visitors to Karijini often miss because it’s outside of the park and requires a considerable drive to get there.  That’s a shame really, since I think it’s probably the most beautiful gorge in a National Park full of beautiful gorges.  Hamersley Gorge is the location where the age of the rocks and the folded layers in the Earth are most pronounced and visible, it’s where I feel most strongly the brevity of human existence.

Shot on the Hasselblad H5D-50 with the 28mm lens, very early in the morning.

Hamersley Gorge is one of the most beautiful gorges in an already phenomenal place, Karijini National Park.  When tourists come into the gallery and say to me, “I have 2 weeks here in Australia, where should I go?”  9 times out of 10 I say, go to Karijini, and don’t skip Hamersley Gorge!

Hamersley Gorge is outside the main part of the park, and requires a drive of a couple of hours to get to, but it is so very much worth it. I was back there again a few weeks ago and after many visits it still takes my breath away.  This is the first of the new images of Hamersley Gorge from the last trip, shot with the borrowed Hasselblad H5D-50 (While my Hasselblad was visiting relatives in Europe).  It’s actually the first time I have been to the park with a digital camera…  Such a relief to not be shooting with a 6 x17 camera any more, it’s such a painful format!