Love your coastline

David Hancock is our Bird Man, but at times he feels like he’s one who flew over the cuckoo’s nest.
As a creator of Hypervision, with his multi-talented partner Anne Gibbons, David is an internationally acclaimed photographer, who for the past 12 months has been capturing the most beautiful and spectacular visions of our southern Fleurieu Peninsula from the air.
He’s used helium lifts and drones, been in helicopters, up cherry pickers and used giant poles – all returning stunning shots that we walk around every day. It’s our backyard, but he cannot understand why we all don’t take a minute of our precious daily time to look around and sense its beauty.
David feels it is time to recall why we first came to this southern coastline. “We need to remember what brought us to where we are and fall in love again with the nature that surrounds us,” he said.
“Upon first showing this image (above) most people could not identify this landmark,” David said. “Suddenly, they’d say, oh my god, it is The Bluff.”
As much as David understands why some may not recognise The Bluff from an unusual angle, he likes to believe by simply looking at it reminds us of the importance of feeling a greater sense of pride in where we live.
In recent years David earned two final nominations and received another two judges’ honourable mentions for his four entries that were among the 7500 received for his category at the International Black and White Spider Awards, one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world, and his amazing career spanning more than 30 years also includes creating one of the finest showcases of scenes for Tourism Australia and the South Australian Tourism Commission.
For the past 12 months David and Anne have been working on their Birdseye Project, which includes taking special aerial vision for corporations, small businesses and private enjoyment, and recently made many of their images available to the public through their temporary shop within the Goolwa Shopping Centre complex and online. They live on Hindmarsh Island and also have an office in Noosa, from where they also do a lot of filming and still shots.
Their Hypervision business bears the tag Pictures with a Purpose, and their work largely focuses on their slogan, As nature intended. It sums up nicely what this couple is all about; their passion to experience what we have got and share it through a tourism world.
“South Australia was branded as a state of contrasting landscapes, and it is not until you photograph them that you know how true that is,” David said.
“Across the southern Fleurieu Peninsula we have the Murray Mouth, the Coorong, rugged cliffs, dry baron land, rich green fields, sandy coves and forests. We have amazing rock formations that Queenslanders could only dream of.
“Sure, Queensland has its trees and water, but that’s all Queensland is. It’s a beautiful part of this world, but it does not have anywhere near as much as we have here. We have ever-changing seasons; you could come to the same spot and time and you could capture 10 different images. Queensland is beautiful 24×7; it’s all the same, always the same scene.
“A lot of people come to our south coast for different reasons; our whole area is full of day-trippers at times, and it’s good from the local economy point of view. But we also need to embrace why they come here; we need to make our own time to celebrate the coastline we have got. It’s annoying that so many people don’t.”
When asked what was his favourite panoramic view, he said: “It depends on what day it is.” However, don’t mention CGI… computer generated images. “They can confuse people,” he says. “It’s not the real thing. We pride ourselves that our images are real; we have actually been there and there is definitely emotion involved. We try to capture what people love.
“A client wanted an aerial shot of where he lives at Hindmarsh Island to put on his wall at home because it reminded him why he loved living where he does. It’s what photography can do; it gives us emotion.”
David and Anne are now preparing for a release of an extensive photography shoot along the beaches of Waitpinga and its magnificent cliffs.
“I have travelled right alongide Waitpinga by boat, but because it was so rough and scary I did not take much notice of the cliffs,” David said. “Having taken some scenes (by drone) I can now say it is an amazing part of our coastline.
“There is a walking trail on the whole cliff front, but there was not a person to be seen when we went over; I don’t think many people know it’s there. We need to stop in our busy lives and breathe in the scenery around us; nobody else has what we have.
“This is all part of a great part of the world that, for whatever reason, we just don’t make the time to explore, and those who do want to look at it every day on their wall. It’s about falling in love again with where you live.”
Peak times, more than 5000 tourists from all over the world walk into the Visitor Information Centre at Victor Harbor every month, and each one looks for an image of an iconic landmark to discover what this place is all about.
The tourists will soon be confronted by the above image of The Bluff, an almost three-metre wide panoramic presentation, and marvel at this spectacular sight. We just hope that, no matter where you live, you also start falling in love again with your own beautiful surrounds. They’re everywhere along the south coast.