An Australian wedding photographer completed a 27,000-kilometer round-trip of the country, most of which included traveling through outback terrain, without spending any money. Instead, she traded her photo services with people she met along the way in return for food and fuel.
With just her pet dog, Jordie, for company during the majority of the trip, Edwina Robertson, a wedding photographer by trade, set out to document what life in the bush is really like. She wanted to “highlight the extremes people have to put up with in the bush” and to bring them to the forefront. This isn’t the first time Robertson’s work has garnered media attention. Back in 2015, one of her wedding photos went viral for featuring a bridal party in dirt, in what was an attempt to shed light on the suffering of Australian farmers at the hands of harsh drought conditions.
Over the last few years, I've really realized how much of a disadvantage people in the bush have, even basic services like education, health, Internet, and access to doctors. I think there's this perception that people in the bush are a bit redneck, but they're very well educated, very resilient, patient, and hospitable. I wanted to show these character traits.
On the journey, Robertson moved from property to property, speaking to rural folk and listening to their respective stories. She relied on their hospitality, taking photos of and for them in return for necessities, spending virtually nothing her entire trip.
In her interview with The Daily Mail, she talks about her experiences encountering strangers in the bush, how she flipped her car, and meeting a man she thought she’d marry before he left and never contacted her again. Read the full story here or find more of her work on her website and Instagram.
Lead image credit: Kaique Rocha from Pexels, used under Creative Commons.
[via The Daily Mail]
Wow, what a story! Thanks for sharing. I really like her work.
Truly amazing and inspiring!!!
Or, she could have taken up 2-3 proper paid shoot and fund her entire travel : P
That would be nowhere near as much fun, and nowhere near as good a story to tell! 😛
Fascinating! Good on her, what a champ. I'd love to see an accurate map of where she really went. That map on the article in the link has her going nowhere near Uluru or Alice Springs. Yet she's photographed at Uluru, and has sent messages from Alice Springs.
Fortunately, here in Australia, the taxation system is not quite as draconion as that of the US. It might surpise some US readers that when you win the lottery in Australia for, say, $6 million, you get to take home $6 million. No tax, no payments over 25 years, just a big fat $6 million!
It is a good question! Businesses who barter with each other are liable to pay tax on those exchanges, but individuals aren't. So, as an individual on holiday around Australia, she'd be unlikely to be pursued by the Australian Tax Office.
They would also have a hard time making a case against her anyway, even if her bartering was subject to tax. The journey is a very long way to travel for a tax assessor to research each instance of her bartering, trying to build a brief of evidence against her. A great job for someone, though, on the public purse!
Oh she's the lady who took the dusty wedding party photo.