Coastcare (Australia)
by David Hancock

Coastcare is a National Australian organisation made up of largely volunteers that, put simply, care for our unique and extensive Australian coastline. As you can imagine they perform a myriad of functions and I take my hat off to every one of them. It is funded by both Government and corporate sponsorship.

I entered the competition (Coastcare Photography Contest) after someone sent me an email which refutes the common argument heard that only pornography or viruses come through the net. I was very pleased to see in the "rules of entry" that the organisers did the right thing regarding copyright and crediting of the selected photographs.

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Ned's Beach, Lord Howe Island

Anyone who has been to Lord Howe will understand the extraordinary beauty of the place and I hope this image goes a little way to conveying the special ecological importance of the Island to Australia. The whitemen who stumbled across the Lord Howe, whilst in search of food for the First fleet settlement in Sydney were the first men to walk upon it's shores and we are very lucky to have access to such a pristine environment.

I'm not quite sure of which Islander can take the credit for the daily feeding of the fish at Ned's beach but it is a ritual that has been observed now for many years and it allows tourists the unique experience of seeing a large variety of big fish up close. It is a fervent hope of mine that we could develop more "Marine Reserves" like this on the Australian Coast. Just little areas that we set aside to simply feed and observe fish and marine life.

The image was created by "stitching" four photographs together in the computer - something I have done very little of, but I feel that in so doing it has captured the feeling of being there.

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Man Alone at Seal Rocks

I don't know if it is the right thing to try and give an explanation for photographs such as this one. It is one of those photographs that may have a different meaning for every person who views it. It was taken in the morning after rain several years ago at Seal Rocks and it is a very special photograph for me. I have been back several times and it has never looked as good or the same and that in itself is very precious to me.

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About the Author: David Hancock has 20 years of freelance experience in newspapers, magazines, corporate, pr. - in Australia and the Pacific region. Clients include: CocaCola, AGL, Telstra, Agence France-Presse, Fairfax Publications, Hello Magazine(UK) and Daily Telegraph (UK). I Specialize in digital-transfers to anywhere in the world. Specialized fields of Men/Manhood, women/birth/pregnancy/children.

Qualifications & Experience
A wealth of experience dealing with people from the most humble to the most difficult. Primarily a news/magazine and agency photographer, I have learned to shoot anything, anywhere. I work in both 35mm and medium-format.

You can see more of David's work at the following websites:
OZ Images Portfolio
Alamy.com - The Image Brokers (David Hancock)