Barn Beams, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania

Luke Tscharke

Image: Barn Beams, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania

Hi I'm Luke and I am an award-winning Australian landscape, nature, and travel photographer based in Hobart, Tasmania. My major passion is inspiring people to respect and connect with the natural beauty in the world around them.

I originally trained as a Quality Assurance professional with a Bachelor of Science degree, and worked for some of the world’s largest food and beverage companies to ensure the quality and integrity of their products. This same meticulous approach has been instilled in my photography, where I strive to create memorable natural landscape images from locations across Australia and other parts of the world. The quality of my work has been recognised by awards in many photography competitions, publications in books, calendars, and magazines, and work with corporations and charities.

I'm a regular contributor to Australian Geographic Magazine and contribute images and articles to the Australian Photography magazine. I am an Accredited Professional Photographer with the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) and run photography workshops across Australia.

I've been fascinated by the natural environment ever since I was a child, and have been able to merge this interest with my love of bushwalking to be able to photograph some of Australia’s most stunning and wild natural environments. My absolute favourite place to photograph is Tasmania, and I visited many times to explore and be immersed in the world heritage listed wilderness. In fact, I love Tasmania so much I decided to relocate there from Sydney in July 2017.

Feel free to get in touch with me if you'd like any advice on all things Sony, enquire about a workshop, or even if you would just like to say hi!

What is in your camera bag?

Landscape: Sony Alpha 7R V with 12-24mm f/2.8 GM, 24-105mm f/4 G, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G, 100-400mm GM
Astrophotography: Sony Alpha 7 IV with 12-24mm f/2.8 GM, 20mm f/1.8 G
Infrared: Sony Alpha 7R with 16-35mm f/2.8 GM, 24-105mm f/4 G
Accessories: remote, memory cards, 2x spare batteries, SD cards, lens cleaning tissues, head torch, tripod, filters

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

If I could only take one camera and lens it would have to be my Sony Alpha 7RV camera combined with my Sony 12-24 f/2.8 GM lens. This is an incredibly versatile landscape photography kit. Not only is the lens razor sharp, but at f/2.8 it makes an great astrophotography lens. If I could take another lens it would be my Sony 24-105mm f/4 G lens. For shooting at night and in low light it's really hard to go past my Sony Alpha 7IV combined with a 20mm f/1.8 G lens.

Sunset at the Fence to Nowhere, Mortimer Bay, Tasmania 1 / 10

kunanyi Radiance, Wellington Park, Tasmania 2 / 10

Binalong Bliss, Bay of Fires, Tasmania 3 / 10

Sunset at the Neck, Bruny Island, Tasmania 4 / 10

Milky Way over Mount Emmett, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park 5 / 10

Tall Pandani in Mist 6 / 10

Reflections in an alpine pool, Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Tasmania 7 / 10

Rupert Radiance, Tarkine Coast, Tasmania 8 / 10

Freycinet Aerial Panorama 9 / 10

Sunrise over Cushion Plant 10 / 10

Most memorable moment shooting with Alpha?

There have been so many amazing moments, it really is hard to pick just one. If I really had to choose it would be at the end of a very special trek I did in late 2017. I had just hiked the hardest single day of walking in my life, a gruelling 10 hour mountain ascent through dense rainforest deep in Tasmania's remote Southwest National Park. After arriving at the top of the mountain ridge the skies began to clear. As darkness fell the Aurora Australis gradually became visible, dancing behind the rugged dolerite mountain peaks. It was a very fitting end to an incredibly challenging day, and being able to capture the moment with my Alpha camera made it even more enjoyable!