In pictures: Road-tripping through the Australian wilderness

In pictures: Road-tripping through the Australian wilderness

An oasis of imagery — Photographer Matt Moran discovers magnetic detail in unexpected places along Australia's Gold Coast, capturing images that bring barren towns to life.

On a recent trip along Australia’s Gold Coast, winding through long stretches of desert highways, photographer Matt Moran found himself drawn to the spectral towns that most people simply bypass.

Overawed by the sheer scale of the Australian landscape, he immediately recognised the photographic potential of its backroads and in-between spaces.

“I think after living in London for the last three years, I’ve become used to a heightened level of visual stimulation,” says Moran, a 25-year-old photography assistant from just outside Exeter. “As soon as that [visual stimulation] was removed, I started to notice things I may have not paid attention to.”

That perspective inspired Moran to captures images that, much like photographers Alec Soth and Stephen Shore, would illustrate the people, places and experiences he encountered in a novel way.

The trick, appropriately enough, was to focus on details that would otherwise be considered mundane.

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Check out more of Matt Moran’s photography.