All images shot by Jeff Levingston

“As a country we could do more to recognise the regional folk, they’re under-represented in our mainstream media and so photographing their experiences and environments is important to me. It sounds cliche but they really are the backbone of the country; they do the hard yards out in the regions so the cities can live comfort- ably with our oysters, merlot and mangoes; we need to recognise and appreciate that.”

Jeff grew up in Palm Beach on the Gold Coast and spent much of his youth in the surf; bodyboarding was big back in the mid 2000s and photographing his body- boarding mates was how Jeff quickly became a camera-nerd. Jeff would obsess over Riptide magazines and surf videos and he aspired to be a photographer like the ones these publications featured. On finishing school Jeff took a job in Sydney as a studio assistant where he learnt the craft. In 2018 Jeff ’s girlfriend moved to Alice Springs. When he went out to visit, Jeff was first struck by the stark differences, quirks and magnificence of the Red Centre. Jeff then spent a year living in Darwin, experiencing the intense humidity of the Wet and the glorious clear sunny skies of the Dry. Jeff ate a lot of laksa and tried to see as much of the Top End as he could. Capturing Top End life; the characters, the crocs, the storms, the footy, the fishermen and the almost-fluorescent flora.

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