Entry Title: " Drought and Flooding Rains"
Name: Melissa Powell, Australia
Category: Professional, Aerial


Entry Description: Australia, the land of drought and flooding rains, suffered severely from the effects of La Nina in 2011. Flash flooding and cyclones devastated the North of the country and made international headlines. Meanwhile in South Eastern Australia’s Wimmera wheatbelt region, the prolonged twelve year drought was instantly transformed in January 2011 by a one in two hundred year flood. This rare transition was iconified through aerial images as the region went from drought to flood.

The search for simplicity has always been a driving force in Melissa’s life. It has led her on travels to far away places, where life is basic and people seem happier ‘in the moment’ despite their obvious hand to mouth lives. It led her to Natimuk, a remote Australian town suffering from a now 12 year drought, where life is more about people and experiences than material things. She became a better cook and discovered the art of gardening. She started a vegie patch. She grew some trees. She laughed a lot with friends. Living in Natimuk has provided Melissa with the opportunity of building her dream to be a remote photographer establishing a niche market in this era of new technologies. She is inspired by the Wimmera light, its people and the space associated with this landscape, as she follows a central theme of ‘images with spark’. Melissa has established a solid client base of commission work, building a reputation nationally for high quality iconic imagery. Regular work shooting editorial, agricultural and commercial images, usually in a reportage style, forms the majority of her current occupation.