Cotton Rag Archival Print Limited Edition Silver PX3 Paris Photographie Prize Winner 2026

I have been fascinated by these flowers since arriving in Australia. The Waratah is a member of the Proteaceae family. It's an almost perfect example of form, colour, and rarity, with a lineage back to Gondwana 120 million years ago.

What looks like a single large waratah flower is an inflorescence—a tightly packed collection of individual flowers surrounded by colourful bracts. A NSW waratah head can contain roughly 100–250 individual flowers.

I wanted to create a portrait of this flower, showing a single head against a dark background. To do this, I shot through foliage at sunset and reduced the exposure in-camera, creating a soft, elegant photo.

Technical information: Nikon D850, 500mm Lens, F5.6