The rugged beauty of the Pilbara inspired an ACT photographer's winning shot in Geoscience Australia's 2015 Top Geoshot photo competition.
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Craig Burns' shot of Hamersley Gorge in Western Australia earned him top spot in Australia's peak geological body's annual call-out to celebrate the country's natural wonders.
The image of the folding rock strata was chosen from more than 300 entries from across Australia in line with this year's theme 'Rock Stars'.
The amateur photographer and two friends from the UK drove up from Perth specifically to photograph the area and based their expedition in Karijini National Park.
"The national park is run by the traditional owners of the land and there's a lot of gorges which are quite spectacular and beautiful and they're not easy to get to, they're just a bit off the normal tourist track," Mr Burns said.
"Hamersley Gorge is one of the more easily accessible gorges so you can just walk down to that whereas some of the others in the national park you have to climb down ropes and ladders to get to."
Mr Burns said he was drawn to the folds in the rock and the vibrant colours.
"It's a very dry, very red area from all of the iron ore. Very close to there is some big iron ore mines and some big cattle pastoral leases so you can drive along and there's scrub and the odd cow," Mr Burns said.
"It was a very hot day and there was a real stillness around that pool area. There's a serenity in the midst of this very dry area, there's a calmness around the water and the colour of the trees just sets that off."
He described his methodology in capturing the shot as "pretty simple".
"You put the camera on a tripod and all around you it's really spectacular scenery so it's really easy to take spectacular shots there," he said.
Timing was key too. There was a storm coming even though you can't see it in the photo, Mr Burns said.
"Fifteen minutes after I took that photo there was a heavy downpour of rain so we were really lucky in our timing there, we got out of the gorge and back to our car just as the rain started coming down," he said.
His philosophy is to "try and get it all right in the camera".
"I like the process because you can get outdoors but you also have to really concentrate on what you're doing. You focus on what you're doing and you shut out all of the noise of day-to-day life," he said.
Two other emerging photographers from the ACT also placed in the competition.
Watson student Ken Andrew Herbert's image 'Barnacled Behemoth' taken at Depot Beach landed him highly commended in the intermediate category.
Two of O'Connor's Callan Chapman snaps from the Northern Territory came in highly commended in the junior category.
