Words by Liz Schaffer & Photographs by Tania Malkin - an extract from the Australia magazine.

Growing up in Australia, I was often regaled with tales of the Kimberley. Far away at the top of the continent, its colour and beauty was the stuff of legend - as were its beaches, sandstone formations, and sheer size and splendour. In my mind, if you wanted to venture into the pristine wild, into a land that appears older than time, this is where you travelled.

The otherworldly grandeur of this outback dreamscape is captured in the work of Tania Malkin, a Perth-born photographer who has spent two decades documenting the Kimberley and Northern Territory, where the reds speak to her and sunsets are her muse. Tania and I first crossed paths at Home Valley Station (HV8) - she was their resident photographer and I was sating my desire to see a different side of Australia. Found just beyond the croc-filled Pentecost River, along the Gibb River Road (a stock route turned dirt highway linking Kununurra and Wyndham to the beaches of Broome), HV8 is overlooked by the Cockburn Ranges, covers around 249,000 acres and is managed by the Balanggarra people - the land’s Traditional Custodians. More than 85 percent of those who work here are Indigenous and through guided tours and experiences HV8 introduces guests to the riches of Balanggarra culture and Country.

Roughly three times as large as England, the Kimberley is a staggeringly ancient region - and if you want to comprehend its age and diversity, it helps to take to the sky. During a dawn helicopter ride from HV8, the land below me was transformed into a marbled melange of patterns and patinas. And despite the dazzling shades of ochre and jade on display, the earth seemed strangely softened, as if it had been caressed for centuries by tides long-since evaporated. I understood why Tania flies whenever, and however, she can. 

Tania is renowned for her aerial photography; dreamy, painting-like creations that celebrate fleeting moments. Waterways feature prominently, and while these shift in any setting, their changes are particularly heightened in Australia’s north, where the year is divided into the Wet and the Dry. “Each Wet season brings different colours depending on what sediments have been washed down the rivers,” explains Tania. “People say, ‘can you take me to where you photographed Ribbon Dancer?’ [her award-winning balletic shot of the Timor Sea], but it’s not going to be there because Ribbon Dancer was a split moment in time. The reflection of the sky to make the water blue, the time of the tide, and where it is in the tide cycle, the angle of the plane - it’s never going to be the same.”

“The Wet build-up is the most amazing time of the year. It’s a release to your body because there’s actually clouds in the sky that are the right shade. The heat is relentless, so your body breathes this sigh of relief. And then you get these incredible cloud formations, sunsets, rains and single supercells that come out of nowhere. And you can see everything right in front of you. You can stand there and watch a small bushfire create a thunderstorm that has ten lightening strikes every couple of minutes. It’s an adrenaline rush; going out and watching this monster of a storm come towards you, and then trying to concentrate because you want to capture it. Or ask yourself: do I want to capture it, or do I want to stand here and just get blown away by the power of this thing in the sky in front of me.”

Tania spent 2021 as Artist in Residence at El Questro Wilderness Park - a luxury Kimberley hideaway bejewelled with rainforests, sandstone gorges, secluded waterfalls and thermal springs. The biggest draw for Tania, though, was the chance to return home. “Coming back out on the Gibb, it was very emotional. It was so good to be back in an area I love and feel so comfortable in.” As part of her role, Tania takes guests to locations they might otherwise not be able to reach - or even know existed. She understands the region's light and weather, shares her knowledge freely and believes that everyone can be a photographer, as long as they’re confident enough to see something beautiful. 

I was bewitched by the Kimberley the moment I set off along the Gibb, my affection only growing as I watched the sun descend over the Cockburn Ranges, rode horses around boabs and toasted the stars in HV8’s memorabilia-strewn Dusty Bar. At the time, I’d longed to travel further and bask beneath a pastel sky on Cable Beach, swim in Emma Gorge or feel wondrously small in Purnululu National Park. But years later, seeing this corner of the Kimberley through Tania’s eyes - and being reminded of its unique and intoxicating allure - I feel that my fleeting visit may have been enough. Dreaming of future travel can be a wonderful escape, but there’s a lot to be said for treasuring the moments we’ve had. “I always take the time to appreciate what’s in front of me because I need to find an angle or a foreground - is it going to be about the sky, the lightning, or the rain. But it’s nice sometimes to just sit there and appreciate the beauty around me. I think you have to.”

This story first appeared in our Australia magazine, which you can order here.