Zillie Falls in the Atherton Tablelands. This image is part of a 12-stitch panorama.

Jarryd Salem

Image: Zillie Falls in the Atherton Tablelands. This image is part of a 12-stitch panorama.

Hi, I'm Jarryd Salem, a professional travel photographer, journalist and content creator from Magnetic Island in North Queensland. I've been fortunate enough to travel to some of the planet's most captivating places for more than a decade, both for work and pleasure, and have developed a deep passion for capturing this world's natural beauty, curious wildlife and fascinating cultures through storytelling and visual media.

I spend the majority of my time in remote and offbeat destinations, and no matter the assignment, whether it's photographing the glaciers of Antarctica or the bazaars of Turkmenistan, it's sharing the journey with others that gives me the greatest pleasure.

My work has been published by some of the world's largest media, including National Geographic, Lonely Planet, CNN, BBC, and Conde Nast, and I've been commissioned by dozens of tour operators and tourism boards both in Australia and internationally. Besides my commercial photography and writing endeavours, I also run adventure and photography workshops in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia with my wife, Alesha.

I am best known for my landscapes and astrophotography, but my portfolio extends to streetscapes, portraits, architecture and tourism.

More of my work can be found on my award-winning travel blog, NOMADasaurus.

What is in your camera bag?

Besides countless spare batteries, SD cards, muesli bars and hand warmers, my camera bag is always full with the following gear:

Sony A7Riii
Sony A7iii
Sony ZV-1
70-200 f/2.8 GMii
16-35 f/2.8 GM
24-105mm f/4
55mm f/1.8
100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM
NiSi Filter Kit
Manfrotto 190GO carbon fibre tripod
Joby GorillaPod
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
GoPro HERO10
Cleaning kit
Leatherman
Ziplock bags

What is your go to in your Alpha kit and why?

For the majority of my shooting, whether it is landscapes, tourism or street, my go-to kit is the Sony A7Riii with the 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens. But I'll let you in on a little secret - my favourite lens is actually the 100-400 GM! This lens is an obvious winner for wildlife and action sports, but I personally love the compression you get for landscapes when shooting at 400mm.

Looking back at the Gold Coast in the hazy afternoon light. 1 / 10

Elinjaa Falls, shot on the new A7Siii on an assignment to test whether this video-focused camera can be used as a hybrid shooter. 2 / 10

A waddle of king penguins stand proudly on a beach in South Georgia. 3 / 10

Ruslan, the champion Kyrgyz eagle hunter, stares off into the distance with his golden eagle, Karakuz. 4 / 10

Early morning light beams through the stained glass of the Nasir-ol-Molk, also known as the Pink Mosque in Shiraz, Iran. 5 / 10

If you travelled to New Zealand, and didn't take a photo of That Wanaka Tree, did you really travel to New Zealand? 6 / 10

Lenticular clouds and last light over the jagged peaks of the Antarctic Peninsula. 7 / 10

The Afghan Merchant. I met this man from Kabul in the Wakhan Corridor of Tajikistan at a cross-border bazaar. 8 / 10

Four humpback whales breach the surface at the same time in the Gerlache Strait of Antarctica. 9 / 10

Light breaks through slats in the ceiling as a lady tends to the fire in a small museum in Nakatsugawa, Japan. 10 / 10

Most memorable moment shooting with Alpha?

There have been more fantastic moments shooting with Alpha than I can count, but two particular memories stand out for very different reasons.

For the wow factor, one afternoon in the Gerlache Strait of Antarctica, our expedition ship happened upon a pod of dozens of humpback whales. We boarded the zodiacs and hit the water, immediately being surrounded by these majestic creatures. For over an hour they spy hopped, breached, dove and played around our boats. My wife and I took over 3000 photos between us on an A6300 with a full-frame 70-200m lens and an A7ii with 16-35mm. Afterwards we returned to the ship and a pod of orcas arrived in the bay. As we were shooting them from onboard, lenticular clouds formed above the snowy peaks, turning into the most spectacular sunset either of us had ever seen.

The second memorable moment is regarding the severity of the conditions we were dealt with. While on assignment in the Yukon of Canada during winter, I was tasked with documenting the Yukon Quest dog sledding race. The temperatures were -40C, a blizzard was forming, and I bounced between the blistering cold outside and a small warming hut to defrost my body. Despite the harsh weather, my Sony A7Riii and A7iii never once malfunctioned or froze, and I managed to complete the shoot with all gear intact.