There’s something incredibly dreamy and surreal about Brisbane-based photographer Lachlan Stumer’s portfolio. His shots sway between snow-capped landscapes at golden hours and fashion portraits that take place amongst the natural world, with each photo harnessing and exaggerating the light perfectly. It makes sense that his first introduction to the craft involved both people and unique terrain:
“My interest in photography started when I was 16 on a snowboarding trip,” he says. “I basically just went and bought the cheapest Nikon DSLR to document the trip for memories sake. Throughout this trip, it started with just getting photos of myself and my friends, but by the end of it I really started to love documenting the landscape, along with the little things that happened along the way.”
After the photographic fire was lit, he knew that leaving his hometown would offer more avenues to enhance his skills. “I grew up in Toowoomba but as my interest in photography started growing more and more, I quickly realised that there were more opportunities in bigger cities. Which eventually led to moving to Sydney and residing there for a few years,” he says.
As we all know, going the extra mile to get that shot can have its pitfalls. “As we crossed the Southern Alps through Arthur’s Pass in New Zealand, we pulled over to photograph the road with insane mountains surrounding us everywhere we looked. Unfortunately, as I pulled over to get the photo I got bogged down in the mud, as it had rained the night before,” he says recounting one of his worst experiences behind the lens.
“In the middle of nowhere with no reception, we tried to push the car out ourselves but had no luck. Though that changed when a woman driving by stopped for us and got a local farmer to drag our van out with his ute. Definitely made us more hesitant about where to pull over for the rest of the trip—lesson learned!”
Peep some of Lachlan Stumer’s coolest pics below and head here to follow him on Instagram, presented by Tens Sunglasses:
