Photographing the dingoes of the Great Sandy Desert
The dingoes of the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia are wild and unpredictable. According to photographer Gary Meredith, who’s observed these dingoes for many years, their behaviours change according to the breeding cycle.
“They can become aggressive and territorial leaving me to keep my distance and observe from afar. This behaviour seems to subside however, once the female dingoes give birth. It is easiest to photograph dingoes when this occurs, as family groups have the tendency to stay within one particular area,” he says.
There are very few people who have the patience or the opportunity to capture wild, pure dingoes in an intimate, family setting. But Gary has dedicated himself to capturing the animal’s softer side.
“What I like most about photographing dingoes is I have the ability to show a worldwide audience just how beautiful they are.
“My favourite image is of a young dingo pup I photographed resting in the shade of a tree to escape the intense heat of the desert sun.
“With a little dirt on its nose and its beautiful eyes staring straight at the camera it’s easy to say this image pulls at the heartstrings.”
For Gary, it’s also about changing people’s negative perceptions of the dingo.
“Dingoes certainly have a bad reputation for various reasons, mostly due to historical attacks on humans and a long running battle with farmers and their livestock.
“The debate over dingo conservation and management in Australia has never been straightforward, due to their history of being an introduced species and also, their ability to breed with domestic dogs. This certainly has created confusion as to how a pure Dingo is identified.
“I personally believe however that such a unique animal found nowhere else in wild populations that every effort should be made to ensure that dingoes, in the pure form, should not become extinct like so many Australian mammals before it.”